Tactical Espionage
by FantasticJackie
Summary: In AC 198, a new threat arises. The art of espionage must be perfected in order for our heroes to succeed against their new enemy. A fic concentrating on all the beloved characters of GW and what happens after Endless Waltz.
1. Prologue: Alive

**Tactical Espionage**

**By: Jackie**

_**Prologue: Alive**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gundam Wing. I also did not come up with the original title of this story; it belongs to the creators of Metal Gear Solid/Konami.

**Jackie's Note: **Okay, so this is just the prologue. I've had this story "written" for a long time, but I never wrote it out. This chapter is a bit slow, but it is necessary! And just in case I don't get to post them up, chapters 1 and 2 are already written. (I'm writing other fics at the same time...) I have to type them up, though. ;)

_July 7, 2005_ - I finished writing this chapter on the day of the London Bombings. A sad but also joyous day in which many innocents were lost, but the strong will of the British people prevailed. May those who were lost in the attacks have eternal peace and their families be comforted even now.

_**Alive**_

_AC 197 Mid November_

_Earth, A small town in England_

_10:34 pm_

A lone man sat unattended at a bar. It was the same seat in which he always sat away from the other customers. The strange thing was that he rarely ever drank anything, though he would sit at the bar until untold hours of the night and early morning. He wore all black - black slacks, black shirt, black shoes. He covered it all with a black trench coat which he had just recently taken off. He wore a simple solid black baseball cap that covered his eyes.

He was hunched over the bar, though it seemed unnatural that he should slouch. His posture suggested that he was someone of nobility. Of course, no one really knew. The man rarely, if ever, spoke to anyone, and nobody knew his where-abouts during the day. The mysterious man was, in fact, a very popular topic for conversation in the town. People would speculate and gossip about who he really was and what he did and where he lived and on and on. IN fact, this very night, he was again the topic for conversation among the regular patrons of the bar.

"Back again, is he?" an old man said sitting at a circular table in the opposite corner of the bar from the stoic man.

"Well, he's here every other night, Angus, just like you. Why wouldn't he be here? the bar keeper responded. "The usual I presume?" but she didn't wait for a response and brought out a bottle of the man's favorite beer.

"Why don't you have a seat with us, Sandy?" another man at Angus' table called to the bar keeper.

"All right," she grabbed a nearby chair, positioned it at the table and sat down. "What's tonight's topic?" she asked the table.

"How about our lonely friend over there? Has he said anything tonight, Sandy?" Angus asked.

"Not a peep."

"Just sitting there, huh?" the man who called her over asked, "Like usual. I wonder who he is...?"

"Everyone does, Norm. I've asked him quite a few times," Sandy said.

Another woman at the table asked, "What did he say?"

"Nothing at first, then quietly, barely above a whisper, he said to call him Matt."

"Matt? That's it?" Norm asked and sandy nodded.

"Well, at least it's a start," Angus replied. "At least he's got a name of some kind." His eyes rested on the ever still and silent Matt. His posture was the same; he hadn't moved an inch.

"What do you suppose he comes here for, Sandy?" the woman asked.

"I've no idea. He rarely orders anything."

"Well, Benjamin here," the woman indicated another man sitting next to her with her thumb, "Says he's convinced that he's an escaped convict on the run from the law, and he comes here to watch the news and listen for any word about them being onto his trail."

"Ah do indeed," Benjamin responded. "Ah mean, look-et where 'ee sits. 'Ee's righ' in fron' of the television! You can' 'ear tha' thing nowhere else in this place. An' then 'ee's always 'ere for hours aft'a'ward! Ah bet you tha' 'ee 'ears ev'ry word said in this place! Then there's 'is get-up! Who wears all black everyday 'cept teenagers an' them punks that listen ta' metal? Ah ask you who wears it! No one, tha's who! An' no one's never seen 'is face. Never!"

"I've seen his face," Sandy interrupted.

"What colur are 'is eyes, then?" Benjamin countered.

"Well, I... I can't say that I've ever seen above his nose..." Sandy said, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"There!" Benjamin exclaimed as if the matter were solved. "Why do 'ee need ta' 'ide 'is features, Ah ask you! Somethin's not righ' abou' 'im, Ah tell you! Somethin' ain't righ'." Benjamin eyed Matt suspiciously. The man had yet to make a move or a sound.

"Aww, come on, Benny," Angus interjected. "Just because a man wears black and don't speak doesn't mean he's a criminal, though I reckon you're onto something there. He probably does come here for news. 'Bout what, though, I'm not sure."

"He seems awful lonesome..." Norm said, "Maybe he's isolated and just wants to keep tabs on the world. Maybe he's all alone, and he just wants to be around people."

"But that's so sad!" Sandy quietly exclaimed. "Surely he has _some_ friends or family!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't. Could be one of those guys who lost everything in the wars. I reckon us bar folk are all he's got," Angus said, a note of melancholy in his voice as he took a swig of his beer.

Five pairs of eyes rested on the man, but he still didn't move or say anything.

"What could have happened to him that he would choose to be so alone?" Sandy sadly asked.

The night wore on, and the bar emptied out save the man known as Matt. Sandy was putting up the chairs when Matt suddenly moved. He was staring at the TV screen. For the first time, sandy could see his full profile; he was younger than she'd expected.

"She turned her attention to the television. What on earth could have stolen his attention so completely that he abandoned all pretense of hiding his face?

On the twenty-four-hour news channel, a story about the Preventers and the ESUN Summit was unraveling live. In the middle of a news conference was a woman in her early 20's. She was covered in soot and had multiple cuts on her face and arms which were visible due to the rips in her uniform. Beneath her on the screen, the label read:

_Director Une_

_Executive Director of Preventers_

Questions were flying at her from off-screen reporters.

"-et's join the press conference already under way at the scene of this terrible, one can only hope, accident."

" - accident or was this intentional?" the news cast caught the end of one reporter's question.

"The emergency here is no accident. It was, in fact, a bomb," there was a gasp and furious scribbling as the Director answered their questions. "This was an attack on either all the delegates here or a particular person or group of people. Judging by the limited blast, I would lean for a particular person or group. - " she was cut off.

"The Vice Foreign Minister?"

"Possibly. The bomb was placed to impact the first two rows especially. That opens every person seated in those rows, including myself, as the possible target."

Just then, a row of text started to move across the bottom of the screen, further informing the audience.

_"Terrorist attack on ESUN Summit," _it scrolled. _"Casualties and fatalities unknown..."_

"Can you confirm or deny the rumors that the Vice Foreign Minister was injured or even killed in the blast?" The press was suddenly completely silent after this reporter asked her question.

"Ms. Dorlain was mostly shielded from the blast by her head of security who was actually the one who alerted us to the presence of the bomb. I don't know the extent of his injuries, but Ms. Dorlain sustained only minor cuts and burns from flying debris and shrapnel." With her words came an audible sigh of relief from the reporters.

"What about the other leaders?"

"I can't say for sure. I know many were injured, but again, all my preliminary reports are not detailed enough to give me the specifics. I have no word on the number of injuries or fatalities."

The next two questions came at the same time, "How was the bomb overlooked by security and the Preventers?" and "Who is responsible for the attack?"

The director raised her hand in a silencing motion and said, "I can only answer one question at a time. Already, we are trying to pin point exactly how, when, and from where the bomb came. We have no definitive answers to either of your questions on the matter, but I assure you that the Preventers will not rest until every person involved in this act is put to just-"

"Isn't it your job to _prevent_ things like this from happening, thus your organization's name?" one reporter scathingly shouted.

"I assure you that no one in Preventers has been slacking, sir. We try our best to prevent situations like this from ever happening, but people are volatile. Sometimes, things can't be planned for. Other times, we make mistakes and fail to connect the dots. I cannot say at this present time which reason resulted in tonight's occurrences."

"Doesn't that make your organization, say, worthless?" the same reporter shouted.

She was silent for a moment, apparently taken aback by the question. The reporter was severely out of line; this wasn't the fault of the Preventers. Director Une composed herself and responded, "That depends on your definition of worth, I suppose. - Next."

"The bodyguard who protected the Vice Minister and discovered the bomb - is he dead?"

"As I've stated before, I am not fully aware of his current condition, but that being said, he's lived through far worse. I'm sure that he'll be fine, whatever his wounds may be."

"Do you have any _estimates_ on the casualties?" one woman asked hopefully.

"Many of the delegates were injured, including some senior members of the ESUN," Une informed them. "Some of their injuries are quite severe. I have not received word on fatalities at this point in time.

"And now," she continued before another question could be asked, "I must get back to my responsibilities." Cries of protest rang out through the crowd as she spoke over them, "The moment I receive any new information, I'll share it with you." With that, she left the podium and headed toward the chaotic building behind her.

"Well, plenty of sketchy information there," the news anchor said as the screen focused on him again. "Again, if you're just joining us, a bomb has exploded at the ESUN Conference taking place in the former Cinq Kingdom, now the Democratic Republic of Cinq. Casualties and fatalities are unknown..."

Matt stood up startling Sandy; he'd seen enough. He grabbed his trench coat and pulled it over his shoulders.

The awkward silence between the two was too much for Sandy, and she spoke up, "That's just horrible, don't you think?"

He didn't say anything, but he did nod. He headed for the door without a word.

"You know, you remind me of someone," she continued as he reached the door. "Your face, but I can't remember who..."

He stopped for a moment waiting to see if she'd say anything else. When she didn't, he exited the bar and stepped into the chilly November air.

He didn't have a car, but in this little town, he didn't really need one. The mysterious man walked along the lighted sidewalks at a slow pace as a light snowy mist more hovered than fell around him. His hands shoved deeply into his coat pockets, he seemed to be enjoying the late Fall air.

It was time for him to leave this place. He was constantly on the move and had been for the last approximate year. Actually, he'd only finished with his therapy eight months beforehand. He'd stayed in this small town for two months; that was a record for him. Of course, now that someone had seen his face and partially recognized him, it was imperative that he move on and leave. He couldn't allow the world to know he existed. He wasn't even supposed to be alive. His one year recovery was an absolute miracle. Why had God spared him?

He stopped under a street lamp and pressed the crosswalk button. In the distance, he could hear the town clock ringing one o-clock. Even in this small community at this time of night, there were cars on the roads - mostly just people passing through. He stared up to watch the frozen mist drift down; the light of the street lamp fell upon the face of Treize Khushrenada.

Now at 26 years old, his face hadn't changed much save the scar on his left side. It ran from his temple through the corner of his eye ending at the edge of his jaw. A piece of Tallgeese's frontal screen had been embedded there; he had been "lucky" that it hadn't hit his actual eye, let alone that it stopped once it reached his skull.

He noticed a change of light at the edge of his vision and putting his head back down, he crossed the street. His hotel was about three blocks from where he was. He'd hurry over, gather his meager belongings, pay the manager, then head for the train station. But where to go...? There would only be a few trains to choose from, and he had no idea which one to pick. Wherever he chose, he supposed he'd have to wait until he was given a selection. Perhaps he'd venture to a larger city this time. After all, sometimes the best place to hide was in a crowd.

His thoughts turned abruptly to the press conference he'd just witnessed moments before. He wasn't expecting to see her, but then again, that was the reason he had been watching in the first place, wasn't it? She still took his breath away. At the mention of her name, he hadn't been able to keep himself from looking which had led to his now necessary departure.

She was now the head of an organization known as the Preventers. He didn't know too much about them save their stated mission, but he had been informed of their role in his daughter's attempted coup.

His blank features turned into a frown; it was so... unfathomably sardonic. He hadn't even known that he had a daughter and how ironic that she, too, tried to take over the world. Like father like daughter, he supposed. Why hadn't Leia told him?

His frown deepened at the thought of her. She served as a reminder of his immaturity. At best, Mariemaia was a mistake (at least on his part), which was a horrible thought. Horrible, but true. Mariemaia was the result of a seventeen-year-old boy who couldn't control his own hormones and a treacherous girl with the intention of using him to ruin the Khushrenada name and bring down the Romafeller Foundation - Not that his family or the Foundation needed any help in the matter.

Still, even though he'd never met his daughter, he felt... attached to her. He cared about her, and it wasn't just a little bit. How was it possible that he loved the girl? - Even if he did hate her mother. It was an amazing thought within itself: he, Treize Khushrenada, was a father. That single thought had the ability to evoke in him both humbled and enraged feelings. He was humbled at the miracle of life and enraged because he'd been robbed of the first eight years of his daughter's existence. But, as his ever-lurking conscience reminded him, he was now robbing himself of her years, so he had no room to complain.

Dekim Barton. If Treize had ever run into the "man," he wasn't sure what action he would take against the detestable cur. To indoctrinate soldiers with his twisted perverted mantra and parade it as Treize's ideals was despicable in its own right, but to brainwash his own daughter so he could hide behind her and take over the world was unforgivable. Then to shoot her... Though he didn't know exactly what he would do if he had been there or even aware of the situation at the time, one thing was for certain: he wouldn't have merely shot Dekim Barton. Such a death was too quick, painless, and even dignified for such a barbarian.

The completely ironic part about Mariemaia, however, was who adopted her. It couldn't have been more perfect if God had planned it Himself, which wasn't completely out of the realm of possibilities. Treize was beginning to think that there was no such thing as luck or coincidence. He was so tempted to reveal himself to them; in a perfect world, they could be the perfect family, but when he seriously contemplated the prospect, it was intimidating and even paralyzing at the very least. How did one approach their child who thought them dead, neglectful, and uncaring? How would he approach Mariemaia? Then there was the matter of Lady Une. With Mariemaia, he simply had to show himself alive and he was her father, but concerning his Lady, it took a little more than just showing up.

He wasn't sure if she'd ever loved him; her affections could have been the result of absolute loyalty for him. He doubted it, but it was possible. It was, of course, the main motive and explanation of why he had not pursued a relationship with her. At first glance, it seemed like a weak excuse, but Treize genuinely feared Ann's unwavering allegiance to him. Women generally would throw themselves at him, but he didn't care for them as their supposed devotion was rooted in things other than love be it his looks, wealth, power, or some other obscure object he possessed. With Une, he simply couldn't tell. Her faithfulness to him was wrapped up in more than just looks, wealth, or power; he knew that. She had truly cared about him, Treize, the person. The question manifested itself in whether she cared for him as more than her superior or friend. Treize knew exactly what would have happened if he'd ever attempted to court her; she would have acquiesced to his request. The problem he had was the unsurety of her true feelings. The last thing he wanted was to push her into a relationship that she didn't really want - to force her further into his shadow. If he'd voiced his affection to her, she would have reciprocated it aloud, but he wondered if the declaration would ring true in her heart. If he'd kissed her, she'd have kissed him back, but he wondered if she'd feel his same passion. Didn't he trust her? Technically, wasn't that what it came down to?

Of course, none of this really mattered, did it? She had accepted his death, along with the rest of the world, and moved on with her life. Even if she had been in love with him, what were the odds that she still loved him as she once did? Being "dead," loving him wasn't of much use. It was also fixing to be two years since he had become "deceased;" he couldn't blame her if she'd found someone else. He couldn't blame her, but he wasn't sure if he could forgive her. The thought of her in another man's arms... He couldn't stomach it.

The former head of OZ again pressed the crosswalk button at the street corner; he didn't have to wait long before the signal told him it was clear. Once on the other side, he picked up his pace. Even though he didn't enjoy the life of a nomad, he was ready to get out of this town. He was becoming anxious with the possibility of someone discovering who he was, and while leaving wouldn't completely solve the problem, it would ensure a bit of protection for him. Anyone who thought they'd seen Treize Khushrenada alive had to be suffering from hallucinations, right?

He also didn't like the fact that he'd left his suitcase in his room. Unlike normal suitcases that contained clothes, his contained nothing but cash. It was stupid to have left it there; he'd forgotten it that morning. He was secure in the knowledge that it was undisturbed, though. Save being cracked open by some heavy piece of machinery, the security pass-codes was the only way to open it. The possibly of one of the maids taking it was also slim-to-none as they weren't supposed to have serviced his room that day.

The money in the suitcase was all he had left. While over a million credits seemed like a whole lot, he couldn't exactly get a job to replace what he used. Technically, he had more than one million to his name, but since it was all in the various banks when he "died," he couldn't access it. The suitcase in his possession was a precaution he'd taken years beforehand. As soon as he'd returned to Earth, he'd retrieved it from his torn-down residence. It had originally contained nearly two million dollars, but such was the cost of his recovery.

It was 750,000 credits waisted in his opinion. His life wasn't worth it - not that he wasn't grateful. The procedures the doctors had performed on him were actually closer to totaling around 1.3 million, but they'd settled for a little over half that; he couldn't begin to understand why. Respectful of his wishes, they'd also agreed to keep his survival secret at no additional charge. Such a success story like his could bring fame and fortune to their doorsteps, but they didn't care. He'd understand such compassion for anyone else, but not him. He certainly hadn't done anything to deserve it.

Treize could see the freeway as he took a right, and further down the service road, he could see his hotel. He contemplated taking a taxi to the train station; the snow was beginning to fall more earnestly around him, and the wind was picking up. He had neglected to watch the weather, but it didn't take a meteorologist to tell him that this little town was about to receive its first snow storm of the coming winter season. That meant he had to hurry before they closed the rail systems. He quickened his stride yet again. He was leaving tonight. Staying around here wasn't likely to do him any good.

He reached the hotel, and using his key, entered his room on the first floor. Always prepared for a possible sudden departure, his belongings were already packed. All he owned was in a duffel bag with some essentials (changes of clothes, toiletries, and even some personal effects he'd been able to salvage) and, of course, his suitcase which was untouched.

He checked his wallet to make sure he had enough cash inside to pay for both his stay and his ticket. Cracking open that suitcase in a public place to get a few credits out was bound to bring trouble. He kept a tidy sum of 1,000 credits on him at all times. Everything in his life was now wrapped up in his crucial need to be able to escape on the fly.

Since when was Treize Khushrenada a coward?

Assured that he had everything, he grabbed his suitcase and swung his duffel bag over his shoulder. Exiting his home of one week (well, he couldn't stay in the same hotel; people were highly suspicious of him), he locked the door behind him then made his way to the front of the hotel.

Entering from the cold, he noticed the manager was watching the continuous coverage of the explosion in Cinq. He was a slightly overweight and balding man who didn't care too much about his appearance. He wore an old sweater and even older black slacks that were more a shade of gray. He was leaning back in his chair with his feet propped upon the desk in front of him. At Treize's entrance, he glanced up.

"Matt, is it?" he asked putting his feet down and trying to see under his cap to no avail. Noticing that "Matt" had his belongings, he contorted his face into a slightly confused frown, "Going somewhere, eh?"

Matt didn't respond. He only approached the desk and placed his suitcase on the floor next to him. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.

The manager still wore his confused frown, but then it clicked. He turned to the coverage of the bombing and faced Matt again, "Oh... I'm so sorry."

Matt frowned and raised his eyes to meet the concerned expression of the manager.

"Did you know someone caught in the blast?"

He blinked. Well, that worked. The cover story was already written. "Yes," he answered quietly glad that it wasn't a lie. "How much do I owe you?"

"Oh, that's terrible!" the manager ignored Matt's question, "Are they all right?"

"I don't know."

"Heading off to Cinq, then I imagine. You should hurry. The storm's coming in quick and the train station announced that those who need a lift to Cinq can catch the last train leaving in 30 minutes. - Say, you don't have a car, do you? I'll call a cab," he picked up the receiver.

"Thank you, but how much do I owe you?"

"Oh," he said stopping mid-dial. "Regularly, it's 79 credits a night, but I'll only charge you the weekend rate of 59. If someone you know was hurt in that blast, you're going to need all the money you can get." He finished dialing the cab service.

Treize counted it out. Fifty-nine credits a night for six nights.That was three-hundred-fifty-four credits; he might as well pay three-hundred-sixty. He marveled at the way people would pull together in times of tragedy. Suddenly, the only thing that mattered was helping each other out. He felt guilty taking advantage of this man's compassion, but he knew the futility of rejecting such offers. He removed the money from his wallet and placed it on the desk.

"-terrible, isn't it? ... Well, all right. Thanks," the manager hung up the vid phone. "They're on their way over as we speak," he informed Matt. "Oh, thank you," he said taking the money and not even bothering to count it. "So... who do you know over there?"

Treize weighed the merits of not answering the man's question. It would only create more mystery around him, which was something he didn't need. The last thing he wanted was to be the talk of the town when he left. Besides, the man had already been so kind to him. "A friend," he answered vaguely. "A good friend," there! It wasn't a lie; she just didn't know he was alive.

"You must be worried sick..." concern crept back into his voice.

"Yes..." he replied. Well, it wasn't a complete lie. He was worried, but not for the reasons this man inferred. What worried him was the target - the possibility that she might be who "they" were after.

The manager said after several seconds of silence, "Well, my prayers are with you and your friend." It was apparent that Matt didn't want to talk; who would after such a shock? "I think I'll turn in for the night," he rose from his seat and flipped off the television. Ambling over to Matt, he extended his hand, "Good luck. I hope your friend is okay."

Treize took his hand, "Thank you for your generosity."

The manager shrugged, "We all need to help each other more often." With that, he retired to his room.

A couple minutes later, the cab arrived. After a few shots at trying to strike up a conversation with the young man, the taxi driver allowed his passenger to ride in peace. In a few short minutes, they'd arrived at the train station. Treize hopped out and paid the man his due.

Walking into the station, he found the list of possible destinations. There were no lines, so all he had to do was choose. There were four possible trains he could take:

_Germany - Departure 1:25_

_France - Departure 1:25_

_Denmark - Departure 1:35_

_Cinq - Departure 1:45_

Well, it was currently fifteen past one by his watch, so Germany and France were out of the question. That left Denmark and Cinq. His eyes rested on Cinq. He could go there. He could make himself known to his daughter and Ann. He pondered the thought for quite some time... His decision was...

No. Some other time, perhaps.

He bought the ticket for Denmark. He couldn't face the two of them yet. He wasn't sure if he ever would face them. Passing through the station which was almost completely devoid of people, he boarded his train. Ann had too much to think about with this attack, anyway, he told himself.

It was a lie. An excuse. A spineless cop-out. He was scared. He was a coward.

Moments later, the train roared to life carrying Treize away from his responsibilities. He let his thoughts glide away as the train took him to his next temporary location. He know it was temporary. Everything was temporary save them, and he knew that one day he would have to confront them. One day, he would have the courage. He just hoped that day came soon.

Treize settled himself in his seat getting comfortable for his long trip away from his destiny.


	2. Chapter 1: Shadows

**Tactical Espionage**

**By: Jackie**

_**Chapter 1: Shadows**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gundam Wing. I also did not come up with the original title of this story; it belongs to the creators of Metal Gear Solid/Konami.

**Jackie's Note: **Sorry for the wait, guys... I promised every week, and I'm already late! Just so you know, I'm now officially the Executive VP of the College Republicans at my school, soo... yeah. That's what held me up this week. ;) What's more is a trip that I'll be taking to Mexico in the next 2 weeks, so I'll TRY to get extra stuff up. If not, apologies!

I've kind of become obsessed with another of my fanfics, so writing on this one has been slow. Of course, I've already got chapter 3 mostly finished (needs some tweaking...), but since I just want to write this other fic... I really wanna post it, but I've got to wait until I finish chapter 3 on that one before I do so; otherwise, it'll be kind of pointless. T-T

To you reviewers, thanks for the encouragement and criticism! I hope the cynicism is enough for you, Kamineko, in this chapter, as we do have the addition of Duo and the rest of the G-boys. Sorry, but there wasn't anything really sarcastic or cynical (well, I suppose you could debate that...) about Treize coming back from the dead. Not to mention that it had nothing to really do with espionage... But right up front, this is not intended to be a humorous story. It will have comic relief, though. L.A.Une and ODSTgirl058, thanks for your comments! And I'll assume that you, ODSTgirl058, are in the Marines. Thank you for your service to our country; I wish I could be fighting out there, too. (Seriously - I've got asthma, so they told me, "No.")

ANYway, this takes place 3 months after the prologue. Kind of self-explanatory since I give you the date, but you know... ;)

_**Shadows**_

_AC 198 February 26_

_Earth -Preventers HQ: Training Fields_

_1243 hours_

"This is Zero. Shadow, what's the status of D2?" Preventer Zero quietly asked into his communicator. He was to the west of their target building crouching in the bushes.

"This is _The_ Shadow presently speaking and accounted for," came the happy-go-lucky voice in Zero's ear. "D2 is ready to roar. I'm making my way back to the rendezvous point."

"Good. Let's get this over with."

"Ya' know," (the) Shadow continued, "This whole thing is kinda stupid, don't cha' think, Zero? Gundam Pilots vs. Gundam Pilots? It's a stalemate."

"Hn," was Zero's response. He wasn't really paying attention to his partner. He was scoping out the guards on the roof. If D2 didn't accomplish its goal, then they would have to come up with an entirely new plan. "She is listening, you know. And Water's with them..." he said quietly.

"Yeah, but I'm the king of stealth. This is no sweat He- I mean Zero, buddy!"

"Don't be over-confident," Zero scolded. "We're dependant on D2. If it doesn't work, this will take more time, which is something I don't have."

"Ahh..." Zero could hear the grin in Shadow's voice, "Got a _date_?"

Zero ignored the question, flipped open his PDA, and studied the schematics.

-----------------------------

"This is Desert. Any sign of our guests, Water?"

"No, not yet."

"There's no way they could be inside," said Preventer Ice. "With all that security out front, they'll have to create a distraction."

"One of us should be out there to catch them when they do make their move," Preventer Dragon growled. "We could catch them before they even enter the building."

"Easy, Dragon," Desert said calmly. "This plan is sure to work. If they can pull of a distraction, which I have no doubt that they can, it will be much easier to catch them within the confines of this structure. Their goal is the control room, and it's impossible for them to make it inside without being caught. - That is, if they make it that far."

"Of course they won't," sing-songed Water, "We all know they won't get past _Dragon_!"

"Don't mock me, woman."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I'll make your life a living-"

"You already do! -"

"Excuse me!" cut in a sharp voice. "While this is a drill, I don't think it's such a difficult task for you to take it seriously. I certainly hope this isn't the way you behave during real missions."

"No, ma'am," answered Dragon dejectedly.

"Hmph. Then I implore you - both of you - to behave as you would if this were a real situation," the voice continued. "I don't want to have to say another word during this exercise. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am," came the simultaneous replies of Dragon and Water.

"Excellent. Carry on. Gold out."

Their coms were silent for a moment, then, "You know, she's never yelled at me for misbehaving on a mission," taunted Ice.

"Me neither..." Desert agreed, but he wasn't teasing.

"Shut up, Trowa," spat Dragon.

"That's _Ice_."

"Whatever."

-----------------------------

Lady Une stood in the watchtower looking down on the drill field beneath her. Behind her, the room was a buzz with chatter from both teams below. Three Preventers manned the channels and monitoring instruments that were recording the day's exercise which would be studied at later dates.

She sighed. "Honestly," she said almost to herself, "I don't understand why the two of them insist on being partners. All they do is argue and bicker."

"They probably like each other," supplied a small voice next to her.

Lady Une casually glanced at her adopted daughter, "What makes you say that?"

Mariemaia shrugged, "Just what I think. Thanks for taking me with you today, Mom. This is much more interesting than being cooped up all day in a classroom!"

"School," she started, "Is very important. However, after that information I received yesterday, I feel much safer with you here..."

"What information?"

Une raised her eyebrow and gave her daughter the "You already know my answer to this question" look.

Mariemaia frowned, "I can handle it, you know. I did try to take-"

"I understand that," she said, "But I thought you wanted to be a child? - Now is not the time to discuss it, anyway. - And you were successful for a little while..."

Mariemaia let out an exasperated sigh, "I _do_ want to be a kid, but you don't have to keep me in the dark all the time!"

"Hush," she commanded, "Not now. We'll discuss it later."

Mariemaia's face contorted itself into an annoyed pout as she crossed her arms and leaned against one of the panels watching the field below hoping that some visible action would break out soon.

-----------------------------

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Office of the Vice Foreign Minister

12:46 pm

Relena Dorlain sighed in disgust and resignation. A copy of the day's "Earth Today" - a prestigious newspaper of the Earth Sphere - laid on her desk.

"Prime Minister Escapes Brush With Death," the front headline read. The subtitle gave more details, "Bodyguard sacrifices life for the esteemed leader of Great Brittan."

It was, of course, all over the media. This made the fourth attempt on a high-ranking official in the last three months. While it had yet to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt by the Preventers, most people suspected that all the attacks were linked and not merely copy-cats.

Three months ago, the attack had been aimed - at least partially - at her. If Heero hadn't picked up on the bomb... She couldn't begin to go down that road. The targets would definitely be dead, that was for sure. She had been one of the targets. Heero had jumped on her, saving her life yet again. He'd taken the brunt of the damage; she still remembered the bloody back of his shirt that had been torn to pieces by the blast. Of course, he'd walked away perfectly okay with the injuries.

He wouldn't allow her to thank him properly for the rescue, either, nor would he accept the gratitude of her brother who was currently still on Mars. Not only had he saved her, but he'd saved everyone; there had not been one fatality that day, and he was the reason.

As soon as she'd opened her mouth to thank him, he said, "Don't worry about it. It's my job."

She wondered if he knew how that made her feel. The fact that her job put him in harm's way was beyond disturbing to the young woman. Often, she wished she could save him rather than the other way around.

She glanced over to Lance - Heero's Preventer replacement for the day. She had a meeting at 2:30, but she needed to leave for 1:30 so she could be there by 2:00. Heero had promised that he would be there for that meeting, so Relena knew he would be there. The drive to the temporary ESUN HQ should be a good time to confront the Perfect Soldier; he couldn't escape her in a moving car. - Well, he _could_, but she knew he wouldn't.

Just then, her secretary paged her, "Miss Dorlain, you have a call on line 2."

"Who is it, Lera?" Just what she needed - a call.

"It's Mr. Reily, ma'am. He says it's urgent."

Relena let out a small sigh. Out of all people, it had to be _him_.

"Shall I tell him you're too busy, ma'am?"

Relena shook her head, "No, patch him through. I might as well take care of this now."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Thanks."

The image of a man clad in expensive robes popped onto her vidscreen.

"Mr. Reily, how are you?" she asked with a fake smile plastered on her features.

"I'm well, Ms. Relena. Thank you for asking. Yourself?"

"The same," she replied dryly. "Please forgive me, but I am short on time. Let's skip the formalities; what can I help you with today?"

"I understand perfectly," he answered. "So down to business. I'm having troubles with certain... people snooping around in my personal and business matters..."

Relena frowned, "Who?"

"The Preventers."

'Oh great,' Relena thought.

-----------------------------

_Preventers HQ: Training Fields_

_1246 hours_

Preventer Shadow reached his partner who was fiddling with something in his hands. "The Shadow has arrived," he said in a hushed triumphant tone.

"D1 is almost ready," Zero acknowledged.

"Wha? You had all this time - "

"I was mapping our route for when we get inside," Zero handed him the PDA. "Get accustomed to those."

The Shadow huffed, "I _know_ what to do. Geez! Stealth is my forte, buddy!"

"Go sit over there," Zero pointed to a tree a yard away, "While I finish this."

Zero's partner screwed up his face, "There's no route on here."

Zero simply pointed to his head and went back to his tinkering.

Shadow slinked over to the spot his friend had pointed to, "Of course... Everything's always in your head. Well, that's fine and dandy for now, partner, since this isn't real, but what happens if your head gets _blown off?_ Where's that leave me?"

"Won't ever happen," Zero said off-handedly.

"But what if it does?

"Then you're screwed."

The Shadow's mouth hung open as he gaped at his partner, "You -"

Zero's eyes shot up to meet his partner's, "Would you shut up and study the maps!"

"All right, all right!" he said defensively, "Don't have to get nasty..." His eyes dropped to the screen in his hands.

The maps were pretty simple and easy to follow. They contained infrared scanning from the Preventers' satellite; the enemies were symbolized as little red dots moving around on the schematics. Cameras and their field of vision were marked by blue cones; they were just about everywhere. Next to the layout of every floor was a map of the ventilation system which followed the hallways and rooms. More than likely, those maps would be useless, though. An attempt to slide through the vents would be planned for; probably, the vents were filled with some sort of gas at a fixed interval of time. They couldn't risk that.

The first four floors looked exactly the same with three rooms on the sides and one big room in the middle save the rotating stairwells. Everything was connected by one never-ending hallway. The stairwell on the first floor was located in the back left corner. The stairwells went clockwise in the corners from there. The stairwells all had a camera inside. The elevator - also useless - had a camera inside and was located at the very back and center of the building. Guards were posted at every room with about 15 stationed in the center rooms and four were guarding the stairwell and elevator.

The fifth floor was a bit different from the others. The control room, which was their target, was located on that floor. Once they made it there, they would need to download the target data onto a disk. After that, they had to escape without getting caught. A cinch, right? If only... Well, maybe... The fifth floor wasn't nearly as guarded as the other four.

There were only three rooms on the level, the biggest one being opposite the stairwell and elevator. That had to be the control room; there were only three centuries and cameras inside. Down the hall, there were only five guards and no cameras.

'Heh,' Shadow thought, "They're planning on catching us on the other floors. - Or are they..? Quatre is on their side, and he's bound to have some strategy in place. I wonder what it is...?' He studied the maps more closely.

"Are you ready?" Zero asked moments later.

"What's his strategy?" he ignored his partner's question.

Zero frowned, "I don't know yet. That's infrared, so they can't be hiding many extra guards hiding up there. Maybe that's where all four of them are," Zero obviously knew his partner was referring to the fifth story.

"Well, if that's his little game, we can get past that."

"Hn... Maybe..." Zero checked his watch, "I have roughly 20 minutes." Looking back to his partner, he said, "If we're not finished by that time, then I'm surrendering myself."

The Shadow's expression was gaping again, "Hey man, dates with Relena are great, but-"

"It's not a date. She has a meeting at 1430, and some less-than prepared bodyguard will not be accompanying her to it."

Shadow sighed and shook his head, "You are so over-protective, man."

Zero glared at him, "You're wasting time with this."

The Shadow rolled his eyes, "Could you tell me the plan?"

"I throw D1, we attract attention and bring the guards down. You set off D2. In the confusion, we run inside. - That has to be timed. The cameras complete a full rotation every 20 seconds. That gives us 10 seconds to get inside the vents and avoid the guards."

"Woah, woah!" his partner made a time-out sign with his hands, "You're not serious. The vents will have some gas inside; it's too risky."

"Every 15 minutes, they flood the entire system with smoke," Zero answered.

"Yeah, see? - Wait. How do you know that?

"Tapped into their communication line."

"Sweet. - Hey, if you tapped into it, can we disrupt it?"

"We don't have the equipment."

The Shadow held up the PDA, "You just leave that to me. I've got a plan, buddy."

"What?"

"Tell you when we get there, but Zero, we can't do an off-site download, can we?"

"No. The disk has to download directly from the system."

"Thought so."

"Don't you pay attention to the briefings?"

"Yeah yeah... I'm baking our plan. Quatre's bound to have something up that sleeve of his - even if it is pink. We've just got to have one of our own to counter it."

"It better be good."

"Ahh, don't ya' trust me?"

"To be honest, no."

"That hurts, man. That hurts real bad."

-----------------------------

Preventer Desert sat in the control room of the fifth floor. Inside were the live video feeds of all the cameras which were picking up nothing. His laptop was open in front of him as he swept the entire forested area with infrared scanners.

"Anything?" Preventer Ice asked walking over to him.

"No. They've shielded themselves from being picked up. - Too bad we can't shield everyone. They only have two people."

"It doesn't matter. We'll catch them once they make it here. There's no need to rush."

"They even secured their com channel; I can't hack into it," Desert continued.

"Is ours secure?"

"I don't think so," he said as his fingers scurried across the keys of his computer, "Heero's pretty quick with that stuff. I don't' know that I could ever secure a line from him."

"I-"

Suddenly, on the west side of the compound, there was a... distraction. Desert and Ice stared at the screen; confetti was drifting about in the air, and two guards on patrol were covering their faces - a stink bomb.

"_That's_ their distraction?"

"Maybe Heero let Duo had this one? Desert clicked his com on, "Beta leader, report your status."

Beta leader coughed and sputtered as he returned Desert's inquiry, "I saw it fly out of the bushes. I'm taking Betas 2 through 4 with me to check it out."

"Leave your com on," Ice interjected.

"Yes, sir."

From the control room's vantage point, they saw 4 of the six guards on the west side head for the bushes.

-----------------------------

In the watchtower, Mariemaia perked up, "Yes! Finally some action!"

Lady Une looked over all the cameras that were set up in various places along the training ground; there was no sign of movement that she could see. Turning back to the window, she narrowed her eyes and waited.

-----------------------------

(The) Shadow and Zero sat silently listening to the conversation of their enemy.

"Leave your com on."

Shadow cursed under his breath.

Zero frowned, "Can't you interrupt their com?"

"Well yeah, but about all I can do is block noise!" he whispered fiercely.

"Echo, please respond," the conversation continued. Echo team was stationed on the roof of the complex.

"That's perfect. Do it," Zero commanded.

"They'll suspect something!"

"Yes sir?" Echo leader responded on the line.

Zero shook his head and again pointed to it.

Shadow rolled his eyes as Preventer Desert instructed his subordinate, "Keep an eye on Beta; don't let them leave your sight."

Zero put his index finger to his lips and became very still.

"Yes sir," Echo leader answered.

(The) Shadow leaned further into his cover as Beta Team crept ever closer. He opened a link on the PDA and waited for the perfect moment to make his move.

-----------------------------

All was silent in the control room as Ice and Desert listened to the conversation on the com.

"Keep your eyes peeled, stay together, and be extremely quiet," Beta leader commanded his comrades in a near inaudible voice.

The sounds of leaves cracking and twigs breaking were the only noises on the channel for untold minutes. Soon enough, Beta disappeared from the cameras' views.

"Echo leader," Desert commed him, "Do you have a visual on Beta?"

"Affirmative, sir."

"Don't lose them."

"Yes, sir."

"Fan out," came the hushed tone of Beta leader. "Don't lose sight of each other." More silence followed.

After a considerable amount of time elapsed, Ice supplied, "They're in too deep."

Then, as if on cue, "This is Echo leader. Sir, they're in too deep; I've lost them."

"Beta leader, come in. Report your status," Desert called.

"We're fine. There's no sign of the – wait. All Betas stop."

Silence. Dead Silence.

"Beta leader, come in," Desert pressed.

No response.

"Beta leader, respond."

Still nothing.

"Beta 2. Beta 3. Beta 4. Respond."

The channel seemed dead.

Desert frowned and glanced at his partner who said nothing. "Beta team, please respond."

Nothing, then, "This is Beta leader. The area is secure."

"What happened?" Desert demanded, "Did you get them?"

"I thought I saw them, so I told the team to stay quiet."

Desert turned to Ice who shook his head.

"Beta leader, what's your status?"

"We're gathering – what the!" Static.

On the west side of the complex, a chain of explosions rocked the area where Beta team presumably was. The entire area was filled with smoke.

"Smoke bombs. They're coming from the west," Ice said.

"Beta team! Are you there!"

"There they are!" yelled Beta leader. "They're heading for the East!" From the sound of it, Beta leader was in pursuit.

In the control room, confusion clearly showed itself on both Preventers' faces.

"Echo team, what can you-" Desert was cut off by another chain of explosions. The entire perimeter

of the compound went up in smoke.

-----------------------------

_Ministry of Foreign Affairs _

_Office of the Vice Foreign Minister _

_12:58 pm _

Relena Dorlain held back a sigh of exasperation as the man on the vidscreen continued to pester her with nonsense and things outside her jurisdiction. Honestly, she didn't understand how the man or his organization had become so powerful in the realm of politics. That was bureaucracy for you, though. People of privilege were always tying up the hands of hard-working politicians with their own selfish desires. Often times, they didn't just tie your hands; they would put you in a choke hold.

Andrew Reily, however, was different from the other bureaucrats. In many ways, he seemed almost clumsy. Of course, Relena knew that the man was in no sense of the word clumsy. It was all an act to make him seem more human and a bit ignorant, but with the best intentions.

"Perhaps I could send some more money into the Terraformation Project?" he wondered.

Where did Terraformer come from? Weren't they just discussing the Preventers?

Relena turned her head to seek advice from her head of security only to find Lance standing in Heero's usual place. It seemed like the 100th time that day she'd forgotten her perfect soldier was off at the Preventers HQ playing war games. That reminded her; he had roughly thirty minutes to get there. She mentally sighed to herself. She wasn't even fully prepared for that meeting and here she was stuck on the phone with a man who couldn't keep his mind focused on one topic.

"Ms. Relena?" he called her attention back to him.

She turned back to the vidscreen. Mr. Reily was in his mid to late twenties. His dark blackish-brown hair was slicked back in a ponytail, though he let his bangs frame his face. His narrow goatee dangled a full three inches from his chin. If he'd had a patch over one of his hazel eyes, he would have looked exactly like a pirate.

His voice was a smooth mid-bass and his very posture reeked of nobility. In many ways, he reminded Relena of a boy who was trying to be Treize Khushrenada. He believed in honor and chivalry, and he certainly had a large following for his ideals. However, he was nowhere near as charismatic as Treize had been. As a matter of fact, she was a bit surprised that he hadn't yet asked her to join his movement. Then again, that probably wasn't a good thing.

-----------------------------

_Preventers HQ: Training Fields _

_1248 hours_

"They're heading for the east!" Beta Leader yelled, but he stood perfectly still as he stared down the barrel of Zero's gun.

Around him, his comrades started to rustle the branches and bushes to imitate the sound of a chase in the woods.

Preventer Shadow, who, along with his partner, had a cloth covering his nose and mouth, had his pistol aimed at the other three. He stared at Beta Leader. "It doesn't sound like you're running to me," he quietly said as he started to jog in place indicating that the hostage should follow his lead.

Beta Leader did as he was instructed.

"Echo team, what can you-" came Desert's voice on the com.

Preventer Shadow detonated D2. "Come on, work baby!" The sound was deafening.

"This is Echo Leader. We've lost all visual range."

"This is Alpha Leader; our visual range has been severely reduced."

"This is Delta Leader. We can't see a thing out here."

"All units, head for the west and entrance," it was Preventer Ice. "That's where they're coming from!"

"Call for backup on the east side," Zero demanded.

"Negative, sir!" Beta Leader said into his com as he continued to jog in place. "We're in pursuit on the East side!" Shadow and Zero fired their pistols into the air to create the illusion of a gun battle. "We need backup!"

"Echo Team, can you confirm that?" Desert questioned.

"Negative, sir. Our visual range is zero."

"You don't sound desperate enough. Come on! Go for the Emmy," Preventer Shadow taunted.

"Sir!" Beta Leader pleaded in an attempt to sound desperate, "We can't see them, but they can apparently see us!"

Shadow turned to Beta 3 and aimed his gun at his head, "Scream for me." He shot past the Preventer's head.

"Ahhhh!"

"We have a man down! Please send back-" Zero shot his gun into the air and ripped the communication system from Beta Leader mid-sentence making it seem like he'd been shot.

He turned to Beta 2 and lowered his gun to be equal with the young woman's head.

"This is Beta 2. We've lost Beta Leader and Beta 3!"

"Delta Team, head for the eastern quadrant and look for Beta team. Alpha 3-6, go with Delta," commanded Preventer Desert. "Alpha 1 and 2, guard the entrance. Betas 5 and 6, accompany Delta."

The Shadow cut the communication lines of Betas 2-4. "That was great, guys. Oscars all around. And now is the part where my partner and I would normally knock you out, but since this is a simulation…"

Zero switched the channel of Beta Leader's communicator and handed it to him.

-----------------------------

"Tower, this is Beta Leader. Please cut Betas 1-4 out of the simulation. We have been terminated," the transmission cut through all the other chatter.

Lady Une smirked as the com officer responded to Beta Leader, "Understood. Return to base and await further instructions."

A few moments later, they received another transmission, "Tower, please cut Alphas 1 and 2 out of the simulation. We have been terminated."

"Acknowledged. Return to base and await further instructions."

Amongst the chaotic chatter, Preventer Desert could be heard calling, "Alpha Leader? Alpha 3? What is your status? Alpha Leader, please respond!"

Mariemaia turned to her adopted mother and grinned, "They're good."

Lady Une nodded, "They're the best."

Both looked down upon the field that was slowly clearing of the smoke. Preventers were scattered confusedly around not quite sure of what had just transpired.

-----------------------------

"They've got to be inside by now," Preventer Ice told his partner as he watched the air clear of smoke outside.

"That's perfect," Desert clicked his com on, "Dragon and Water, our guests have arrived."

"So that's what all the commotion was…" Water mused.

"If I was in charge of this mission, they wouldn't be inside," Dragon fumed.

"Well, you're not, and I am. Therefore, you will stick to the plan. Is that clear, Dragon?" Desert said this passively, but it was clear that he was reinforcing his authority over his subordinate.

Dragon gave an irritated sigh, "I'm in position."

"Excellent. And water?"

"I'm ready."

"Perfect," Desert switched to the unit-wide bandwidth to contact his entire team, "Flood the vents with smoke. We'll restart the intervals from this time."

Throughout the facility, the vents locked themselves tightly to prevent anything from coming out.

-----------------------------

Zero and Shadow slunk slowly through the ventilation system on the first floor. They almost hadn't made it into the suspended shaft when one of the guards had turned unexpectedly. Their trained reflexes which were faster than an average human's had saved them allowing them to dodge the unwanted stare.

The system was extremely small and cramped, obviously created to minimize the risk of what they were doing. The way they'd been constructed was designed to make any movement echo to attract attention. Their pace was extremely slow; they were literally inching along.

The pair was now dependent on their com system for communication. A teeny whisper that wouldn't normally travel to someone a foot away could easily be understood through their ear pieces. They were currently tuned into their enemy's com line, though.

They carried no flashlights as they would attract attention through the serrated openings. The only things they carried were their guns, the PDA, and a blank disk. All these things fit on their person save the PDA which was in Shadow's hands; he'd taken point and was keeping a close watch on the guards below them.

"Flood the vents with smoke," Desert commanded.

The Shadow switched his com to Zero, "I told you! We're dead!"

Zero answered on their private channel, "Secure your mouth covering. We'll be fine."

"This is insane," The Shadow mumbled as he fumbled with his covering. "If this was real, chances are that it wouldn't be smoke. It'd be poisonous gas."

"Ahead, The Shadow saw the openings in the "floor" start to close. He cursed quietly to his partner.

"Just continue straight ahead. Our exit is only 15 yards down," Zero stated calmly.

"Or worse," Shadow continued on his previous line of thought, "They'd suck the air out."

"Put the PDA away," Zero said as the vents finished sealing themselves leaving them in complete darkness. They could hear the distant echo of gas being let into the system. "We won't be able to see through the smoke."

"We won't be able to _breathe_ through the smoke, pal!" Shadow said as he placed the PDA awkwardly on his person due to the cramped space. "We're going to suffocate! You can explain to Hilde why I died on a _training_ exercise!"

"Take a deep breath and close your eyes. The smoke is coming. – And move faster; the sound of the smoke pouring into the vents gives us some cover."

The Shadow did as he was told without a word. He felt the smoke hit his face, and he wondered how long after his held breath he would be able to stave off coughing and sputtering from the poison. He moved slowly and deliberately making sure not to make a sound.

-----------------------------

"How long do they keep the vents filled?" Une asked one of the three Preventers with mild concern.

"4 minutes. Then they blow it out through the outer vents."

"They should be fine, but pay close attention to their transmissions. I don't want to lose them to foolish pride in a simple exercise."

-----------------------------

"Water to Desert," came the voice on the private com.

"This is Desert; go ahead."

"Do we know if they're in the ventilation system?"

"No. They probably wouldn't risk it. Then again, they could be counting on us expecting that. Why? Do you think you heard them?"

"No, I was just thinking that – I mean, being a doctor… Smoke is dangerous, and I know we're on opposite teams, but-"

"I understand. I don't want to hurt them if they are in there, but I'm not going easy on them."

"But what about just filing them 80 of the way just to be sure? That's not really easy, per se…"

"No. The purpose of this drill is to simulate a real environment in which espionage is what is called for. Doing something like that would defeat the reason behind this entire exercise. Besides, I trust the two of them to know their limits. This is a simulation, and they know that. They'll be fine. They're not taking it easy on us, and we don't need to cheat them like that."

"I suppose… But I still don't like it."

Desert smiled, "I'm sure they'd appreciate your concern."

-----------------------------

They'd reached the end of the ventilation system; directly below them was a guard and next to him a stairwell. There was only one problem: the vents were still locked shut, and any attempt to open them by means of force meant defeat. Luckily for them, the smoke had started to clear.

The shadow was struggling to hold onto his breath; letting go of it now would lead to a gasp afterwards – a gasp full of smoke that would send him coughing and sputtering, again, leading to defeat. Behind him, Zero was perfectly fine. He'd been trained to hold onto one breath for up to 15 minutes – a superhuman trait that was coming in quite handy.

The shadow reached onto his person, eyes still shut, and grabbed the PDA. He chanced a peek to see if the smoke had cleared; it wasn't completely gone, but it was good enough. He let go of his breath as quietly as possible and breathed in deeply. It was still pitch black inside and the remnants of the smoke burned his eyes and lungs

Zero let go of his held breath silently, then whispered on the com, "Use the PDA and hack into their security mainframe. Make a recording of the camera below us and the one in the stairwell."

"What about the other guards? They'll see us if we take out the two beneath us."

"We'll have to sneak by them."

Flipping open the PDA, The Shadow squinted from the light as he used a series of burst to crack open the security system. Once inside, he found the two cameras he needed and recorded the events that were taking place. After four full rotations, he stopped recording.

"I got it," he said. Just then, the vents parted open.

"Play it," Zero commanded.

The Shadow routed the cameras' views to show what the PDA had recorded earlier. Then, as quietly as possible, he removed the vent covering. Switching back to the schematics, he waited for three backs to be turned to the vent. He scurried out and landed softly. Zero landed behind him. The two of them ran, their feet not making a sound, for the stairwell while the guards' backs were still turned. Reaching the door, they slid through the opening. They pressed their backs against the wall on the left side of the door once inside the stairwell.

The door opened as the guard they'd just passed peered inside. "I could have sworn…" he said to himself. He glanced at the camera, then shrugged and closed the door.

The Shadow heaved a sigh of relief as his partner took point up the stairs, gun drawn and pointed down. He tossed the PDA to Zero and followed him, placing a silencer on his pistol.

"The elevator is on this floor," Zero said as he examined the maps.

"The _elevator_ now? Come on, buddy. The vent system was one stunt too many. We're not riding the elevator."

"No. We're climbing up the shaft. There's no security inside."

"And how do you propose we get _in_ it?"

"Take out the power…" he was working furiously on the PDA. "There are no windows in this complex; it will be pitch black. That's perfect cover for us."

"No backup generators?"

"No."

"And pry the doors open? That'll attract attention – especially from the center guard."

"We can deal with that. "

"How long will we have?"

"Approximately 25 seconds. We have to be in the shaft by that time."

"Piece of cake."

"Get ready."

"I'm always ready," Shadow answered as he placed his hand lightly on the door knob.

"On my mark, open it slowly," he finished punching in a command, then put the pad away tucking it in the back of his jeans. He secured a silencer on his gun, then checked his watch. "3, 2, 1," the lights went off, "Mark."

The Shadow gently cracked open the door and slipped past the guard.

"What's going on?" he heard a woman ask down the hall.

Now there was an unexpected kink; Sally was on this level.

Zero slid into the hall next to his partner, and backs against the wall, they slunk silently toward the elevator. All the while, Preventer Water was giving commands to guard both stairwells and the elevator. Her voice became louder as they neared her relative position, and then, they passed her.

When they reached the lift, Shadow almost fell backwards. As luck would have it, the doors had been frozen halfway open when Zero had cut the power. The two scrambled inside, and feeling around on the ceiling, found the hatch. Zero hopped up first, then helped his partner. They closed the opening and felt around for the cable. Followed by Shadow, Zero quietly started to climb up just as the power returned.

-----------------------------

"Where are they...?" Preventer Desert wondered aloud. "All levels report in," he said on the unit-wide com.

"Nothing on level one," answered one Preventer.

"They're not on level 2, either," said Preventer Water.

"Third floor is clear."

"The forth level is all quiet," Preventer Dragon responded.

"And the fifth floor is empty, as well..." Desert said almost to himself. "Keep your eyes open. They're here somewhere." He shut off the com and turned to Ice, "I think you should probably get into position."

The Preventer already had his bag, "Fill them up in 2 minutes. I'll be ready then. I have no doubt that they'll be inside by that time, as well."

"Where do you think they are?"

"Level 3 or 4," Ice said thoughtfully. "I'd better go," and he left the room.

Desert glanced over the camera views again for a few moments, then stood. He turned to one of the other guards in the room and nodded. The guard saluted and left the room.

-----------------------------

Zero dangled in the elevator shaft by one hand as he held the PDA in his other. They were hanging outside the fifth floor.

"They're moving," he supplied to his partner below him.

"Well, so is the ground below us!" Shadow said as the cable to which he was holding started to pull him upward.

"Switch to the other line," Zero ordered as he placed the PDA in his pants.

They grabbed the other cable that was moving downward.

"I certainly hope no one's on that thing because they're about to find out _exactly_ where we are!"

"It's empty," Zero answered. "Ice called the elevator."

"How do you know?"

"I've got it," came another voice.

"Great. Let's get out of here," Zero answered.

"What the -!" Shadow was cut off as he slammed into the elevator.

Zero landed gracefully next to him. The lights on the top of the lift illuminated the shaft as well as the look on Shadow's face.

"Bozo!" he asked incredulously, "Bozo's on our team? Geez! Ya' know, it'd be nice if you'd fill me in on these things!"

"You didn't need to be informed," Zero responded.

"You didn't need to be informed," he mocked. "You suck, pal! Does Quatre know?"

"Let's hope not."

"Why the h did we come all this way!"

"In case Ice got caught," Zero said lifting the sealed opening. He then cursed as he came face to face with a loaded rifle.

The Shadow gaped as he and Zero raised their arms in defeat. The elevator stopped at the doors of the fifth floor. "Uh... I think he knows..." Shadow added dumbly.

-----------------------------

Preventer Ice stood in front of the elevator. He was supposed to be hopping into the vents where he would lie in wait at the junction point just outside the control room. He had hopped into the vents, but then jumped out after loading the recorded camera views from his PDA; to Desert, Ice was the invisible man. None of the guards would stop him since they didn't know the plan.

"I've got it," he whispered into his com.

The response came right away, "Great. Let's get out of here."

Preventer Ice had downloaded the files five minutes into the exercise; the disk was contained safely in the inner pocket of his Preventers jacket. As usual, he'd chosen infiltration for this mission. Director Une had agreed, and when their mission parameters were given, Preventer Ice was part of the Complex Team. The only people who knew that he was actually part of the Recon Team were Une, Heero, and himself.

Preventer Ice felt movement behind him. He turned around and came face-to-face with his "comrade" who was backed up with about two dozen Preventers and guards all with their rifles trained on him. Behind the unsuspecting Preventer, the elevator dinged signaling that his ride had arrived. Ice slowly raised his hands, his plan already formed.

Desert clapped almost mockingly, "Great job, all of you, but I still win."

Ice slowly shook his head, "Not yet, you haven't."

The doors to the elevator slowly parted, and in a blur of motion, Preventer Ice was inside the lift, the doors shut behind him. To his great disappointment, another ten rifles were trained on him. There were twelve guards in all; one aiming at a presumed Zero and Shadow through the roof, and the other was standing in the center of the group right next to Ice with a device in his hands: a jamming beacon. They were invisible to all radars.

Ice let out a sigh and raised his arms in surrender just as the doors to the elevator opened again at the request of Desert.

"Have I won now?" he asked with a big grin. He held out his hand.

Ice frowned; behind him, Zero and Shadow jumped through the hatch and were surrounded by the multiple rifles. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the disk which he handed over to Desert. "Yes. Zero, call us in," he stated dejectedly.

"See? What'd I tell you?" Shadow fumed, "Stalemate. 'Cept Quatre won…"

Desert's grin widened, "Don't take it personally. We work better as a team, anyway."

"Hn," Zero switched on his com. "Tower, this is Zero."

-----------------------------

In the watchtower, the coms had gone strangely quiet. The last transmission they'd received was just over two minutes ago. The cameras, however, were still recording. Director Une was watching the scene unfold on the fifth level of the complex at the elevator. Apparently, Preventer Desert had not been fooled.

Suddenly, the silence was broken.

"Tower, this is Zero. Recon Team has failed mission parameters. This exercise is over."

"Roger that, Zero," the com officer responded. He flicked a few switches to expand the bandwidth for the entire group below to hear, "Exercise complete. Complex Team wins this round. All participants rally at the base and await further instructions."

"How did he know about Ice?" Mariemaia asked.

"I don't know. I suppose that maybe he was just suspicious," Une answered. "That makes the score Recon Team 1, Complex Team 1, and a tie. And Heero's never failed a mission…" she added thoughtfully.

She handed out orders for the three Preventers in the tower to gather and save all data pertaining to the drill. Then she and Mariemaia left and headed for the base.

-----------------------------

_Ministry of Foreign Affairs _

_Office of the Vice Foreign Minister _

_1:06pm _

Relena stared at the vidscreen; he was still waiting for her response to his Terraformer proposition.

"Yes, Mr. Reily," she answered him, "The Terraformer Project could always use more funds. However, I don't see how that connects with your request regarding the Preventers."

"Please call me Andrew," he said cordially, "Terraformer is your pet project, is it not?"

"My… pet?" she questioned. True, she had been the biggest supporter of the project to get it underway, but that didn't make it _her_ project, let alone her _pet_.

"Pardon my crude wording. What I mean is that it's important to you, correct?"

"I suppose it is, yes."

"Well, my request regarding the Preventers is important to me, so-"

Relena held up her hand understanding where he was going, "I do not accept bribes, Mr. Reily."

"But it's not _really_ a bribe."

"Oh, but it really is. Mr. Reily, I can't help you with your problem. It's not within my jurisdiction."

"But surely your relationship with-"

"My relationship with Director Une in no way affects the powers granted me in the ESUN Charter. I wouldn't dream of abusing our friendship for such purposes, anyway."

"I wasn't implying-"

"Mr. Reily, I apologize for interrupting, but I have a meeting in ten minutes, and my say on this matter is final."

"Of course, Ms. Relena. I must apologize for wasting your time."

Normally, she would have fretted such a statement, but since she couldn't agree more… "Any problems that you are having with the Preventers will have to be resolved through the same methods everyone else uses."

He simply nodded his head.

"And now, I really must go."

He bowed his head, "Of course. Thank you for your time, Ms. Vice Foreign Minister."

She nodded and his form winked out of view. Leaning back in her chair, the exasperated sigh finally escaped her lips.

-----------------------------

_Preventer HQ, Training Fields_

_Alpha Base_

_1258 hours_

Alpha Base was one of the six bases on the Preventer's training fields. They were used for several purposes, usually war games. Surrounded by a dense thicket of trees and deep foliage, Alpha Base was merely a big shaded area for the time being. It resembled a steel building with a roof, but no walls; it was simply a frame. Inside, a stage had been rigged above the rest of the flat lands. All six training bases were constructed of materials that could easily be shifted and changed at a moment's notice.

Around 150 people had participated in the day's drill; they were scattered around the "interior" of the base. The Gundam Pilots and Sally stood at the front next to the stage.

"You know," Quatre said trying to cheer his friends up, "You and I both know that if in such a situation, the three of you could have easily escaped."

"30 to 3? That's 10 each; if it was a real mission," Duo said agreeing with Quatre, "That disk would be ours."

"The purpose of the mission was not to get caught," Wufei pointed out. "You failed that objective."

"A single failed objective does not fail the entire mission so long as it is not the main objective," Trowa countered. "Our main objective was to obtain that disk."

Wufei harrumphed, "Just take your shame and accept your defeat."

"It's not a defeat," Heero said quietly yet firmly.

Wufei raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Then what was it?"

"Incomplete," Trowa and Heero answered together.

Quatre nodded, "Really, Wufei, even you alone could get out of a mess like that." In trying to satisfy everyone, Quatre decided it was best to stroke his friend's ego. It was entirely true, however. Wufei was expertly skilled in personal combat; Quatre had no doubt that Wufei could take thirty armed men alone.

"Hmm…" was his simple answer.

Heero glanced at his watch – 13:01. It took approximately ten minutes to reach the Foreign Ministry building; that gave him a maximum total of 19 minutes. Where was Une? She knew he had to leave. He shifted uncomfortably and craned his neck as he searched for his boss.

"What's the rush, Heero?" Sally asked noticing his impatience.

Duo couldn't resist, "He's got a _date_ with Relena."

All eyes were on the Wing pilot.

Heero sent a mild glare at Duo, and then said, "It's not a date. She has a meeting at 1430. With all the assassination attempts lately…"

"You need to be there," a voice interrupted. Director Une stood on the make-shift stage. The entire "room" of Preventers came to attention.

"This is going to be short and quick," she announced to the entire group. "Those of you who came in contact with the opposite team – I want a full report on my desk detailing what happened and how to fix it by the end of the day. The rest of you are free to return to your responsibilities. Dismissed." The group of Preventers dispersed and she turned to the elite group at her feet.

"Heero, I'm sorry, but I can't let you leave yet," Une said apologetically.

Heero held back a glare; he respected Director Une and knew the woman understood the importance of him being there to protect Relena. Whatever the hold up, he knew it to be important.

"All of you," she continued to the pilots and Sally, "Will be coming with me. There is someone you need to meet." She stepped off the stage and headed for the transport, her friends in tow.

"A girl?" Duo asked hopefully. For once, he was glad Hilde wasn't there. That comment would have earned him a well-deserved smack.

"Actually," Une answered, "Yes. She's a new agent and will be joining your ranks."

Trowa let a slightly surprised expression appear on his face, "She must be good."

"How long will this take?" Heero asked dismissing all the previous information.

The Director gave a side glance to her best (well, one of her best) Preventer. "You won't be late, I assure you."

"With all due respect, can't I simply meet her later?" he pressed.

She sighed, "I would prefer that you meet her now with everyone else. However, the Vice Foreign Minister's safety does take priority." She turned her head fully to face Heero, "I'll let you decide."

Heero looked sideward to his superior and then to his watch. It only took ten minutes to get there. He supposed that leaving at 1315 would be perfectly all right. Sitting in the transport, he responded as it started to move, "I'll leave at 1315 wherever I am."

Une nodded curtly, "Thank you."

In the meantime, Duo had found Mariemaia when he'd climbed into the transport. "Hey there, kiddo!"

Mariemaia flashed him a big grin.

"Skippin' school with Mom's permission!" he continued with a glance to Une, "Now _that's_ the life!"

"Yeah, well," the girl frowned, "I still have homework."

Duo melodramatically let his had fly to his heart, "That's inhumane!"

That elicited a giggle from the 8-year-old which in turn sent a smile to everyone's lips save Heero and Wufei.

-----------------------------

_Ministry of Foreign Affairs _

_Office of the Vice Foreign Minister _

_1:12 pm _

"I'm glad that's over with…" Relena announced quietly to herself. It then struck her that Lance was still in the room, not Heero. She quickly composed herself and turned to her temporary replacement.

He was a bit taller than her sworn protector with short, neat, blonde hair. He stood perfectly erect and ever vigilant, though he pretended not to listen to the Vice Foreign Minister's conversations.

The absence of Heero slightly irked the young woman. What exactly was she supposed to do if he was late? Not to mention the fact that she found great comfort in his simple presence. He was much more than her head of security and bodyguard. He was her greatest advisor, and above all, the strength she needed to continue in this sticky world of politics. She was only 17; what was she doing with the weight of the world resting on her shoulders?

"Lance," she said calling the attention of the guard, "Did Heero mention anything about possibly being late or when his exercise would be finished?"

"No, ma'am. My orders say that he'll take over at 1330. It is entirely possible that the drill might have run longer than expected, though."

"Well," she said as she stood, "He has fifteen minutes go get here. In the meantime, you should be sure that you're ready to accompany me if needed."

"But I'm to return to HQ at 1345. Those are my orders."

"_Assuming_ that Mr. Yuy makes it here on time. I'm not going alone," Relena shuffled some papers and packed up her laptop as she spoke, "I learned that lesson the hard way."

The young man shook his head, "I can't ignore my orders, ma'am. My CO would have my head."

"If I were you," she said placing her files and laptop neatly into a light briefcase and shutting it, "I would worry more about Heero's reaction should you refuse to accompany me." She glanced up at the guard, "He would have more than your head."

"Ma'am?" Lance gulped.

"Relena straightened, now fixing her suit – a light blue ensemble consisting of a white blouse covered by a light blue jacket and a matching skirt – to be more presentable. "In case you hadn't noticed, Mr. Yuy is extremely protective of me," she attacked the lint lining her skirt, "He requested this job and was not particularly thrilled to learn of today's drill. To be quite frank, he doesn't trust anyone else to do it."

Felling that she'd fixed as much as she could, she clasped her hands together and let them dangle in front of her as she looked back to the resistant Preventer. "I don't have to inform you regarding the recent assassination attempts on several of the leaders in the ESUN. I guarantee you that even if nothing happened, Heero would personally see to it that you were properly rewarded for your actions."

In other words, my boyfriend will beat you up. Well, it was rather sophomoric of her, and he wasn't really her boyfriend, but that didn't make her statement any less true. It also seemed to bring the point home to Lance.

The young Preventer stood straighter (if such a feat was possible) at her words. "Yes, ma'am. I'm ready whenever you are." While he'd never seen Heero Yuy, or Preventer Zero as he went by within the organization, in action, Lance had heard of the many feats of the legendary Gundam Pilot. Meeting the man in person was more than enough to give validity to what many would think tall tales or exaggerations; Lance had no desire to get on his bad side.

Relena smiled, "Then let's be on our way." When it was needed, even Relena Dorlain could twist arms.

-----------------------------

_Preventers HQ _

_War Room _

_1310 hours _

The six Preventers ambled single file into the War Room. It was a large meeting room with a large elliptical table as the center piece. At the front of the table on the wall were four view screens all which were controlled by a control panel which was imbedded in the table at the head seat.

They all took seats at random places on the table, Heero once again glancing at his watch.

Director Une walked in moments later and stood at the head of the table. "Today's exercise did not go as well as I'd hoped," she started with a look to Heero, Duo, and Trowa. "That being said, the drill is the perfect way for me to introduce the newest member of our team.

"Like all of us, she's been a soldier since her early childhood. Her first mission she says took place around the age of 10. After her stunning success, she advanced rather quickly through the ranks of the Alliance, eventually becoming one of the most talented spies and espionage agents they could claim as their own. In 194 for her own reasons, she resigned from the Alliance and took up arms against the organization as well as OZ by joining a small colonial resistance. Later on, with the collapse of both the Alliance and OZ as well as the emergence of the White Fang, she found herself without a job.

"Until now, she's been… wasting her talents on small pointless errands for private citizens." Director Une pressed a button on the control panel sending a buzzing noise to the door. Those with their backs to the entrance (Heero, Duo, and Trowa) twisted in their seats and awaited the newcomer. "I'm hoping she'll be able to have some influence on your espionage skills, and I know her abilities will come in handy. – And before you ask, no, we are not related."

This comment made Trowa turn to face his superior. Why would she say something like that? Behind him, the doorknob turned, and the Gundam Pilot for reasons unbeknownst to him suddenly had a pit in his stomach. He turned just as the door opened to reveal the newest high-ranking Preventer.

She was around the same age as the pilots with blonde hair that reached just beyond her shoulders. Her figure was still rather girlish, though it was apparent that she was no push-over. She was muscularly toned from head to toe. Her face was set and determined, but her grayish-green eyes gave her away; she was nervous.

Trowa knew those eyes, and he was on his feet in an instant.

Director Une, while partially confused by the actions of her Preventer, introduced the girl, "I'd like you to meet-"

"Midii Une," Trowa interrupted. Grey eyes met green, and the whole world stopped.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Jackie's Note:** Well, that last part was expected…. With all the amazing coincidences that are bound to take place in this story, I've been pondering changing the title to "Gundam Wing: Fairy Tale."

I hope y'all enjoyed this. I had fun writing it, though I wish I could just show you a picture of the Compound. That would probably make that part a lot easier to understand as far as who was where and so on. Too long? Sorry, but this is probably going to be the approximate length of all my chapters. (Word just told me 30... Wow... Didn't know it was THAT long...) Chapter 3 is not yet finished, and I don't know that it will be by next week. I'll probably be posting a new fic before I post the next chapter of this one. Who knows? Maybe I'll post everything at once! It all depends on how much time I have.

So… Teasers for the next chapter... What's Trowa to do about his former enemy now that she's re-entered his life? Can he trust her? Zechs and Noin make their debut, and maybe even Dorothy, too. What happens with Heero? Will he make it in time to accompany Relena to her meeting, and what's this meeting about anyway? Stay tuned! It's all in the next installment of Tactical Espionage!


	3. Chapter 2: Fanning the Flames

**Tactical Espionage**

**By: Jackie**

_**Chapter 2: Fanning the Flames**_

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gundam Wing. I also did not come up with the original title of this story; it belongs to the creators of Metal Gear Solid/Konami.

**Jackie's Note: **Well, thanks to Hurricane Rita, we didn't go to Mexico. T.T Actually, it was going to be a pretty rough trip; I'm actually more relieved than anything. ;)

Well, I said that I had another story in the works, and I have posted it, - check it out if you would be so kind - and I also said that this chapter just needed some tweaking. Yeah, well, I got kind of carried away... I added a good 7 pages in my "tweaking" stage... lol And rewrote about half of it... I decided it needed to go farther than it had; I also wanted this chapter to be the same approximate length as the one before it and the ones to come. Of course, this one turned out being longer...Chapter 3 (which, I called _this_ chapter "chapter 3" in my last JN... Sorry!) has "a lot" (actually, it will probably be a somewhat boring chapter devoid of any real action... sorry) that happens in it, and Chapter 4 even more. I also started on ANOTHER story. It's a humerous cross-over. The prologue and 1st chapter will be posted in my next update. ;) So anyway, that's why I'm late again... Sorry! I'm bound by the endurance of my hand(s). I'll write for 7 hours straight and still want to jot down more, but physically can't... T.T

**To the Reviewers: **I decided I'd just make this bolded in my layout. :) Again, thanks to all for your comments! ODST girl and L.A.Une, thanks for the encouragement! ;) And I forgot to mention to you, Une, that Treize will make his next brief appearance in Chapter 4. ;)

Kamineko, I wasn't thinking about changing the title! ;) It took me FOREVER to "come up with it." (Actually, I just took it from MGS... Not too proud of that, but I give credit where it's due.) This TE will be more of the spying and ifiltration and, as you'll later find out, refers to more than just the espianoge involved with their new enemy. I was just saying that the prologue didn't have anything to do with TE; its purpose was to simply bring Treize back. ;) I happen to be a big Trowa and Relena fan! (Not together! eww!) Actually, I wish Trowa had a bigger part in the series; I love his character. ;)

**IMPORTANT:** I've been having problems with my "save changes" button in the documents folder. I've even been having problems just loading the docs. One time, I opened this doc, and the only thing left was a third of the JN above. Needless to say, I was the least bit PO'ed. My point is that if it seems like something's missing, tell me in an e-mail. I'll fix it immediately. ;) Thanks!

_February 26, AC 198 _

_Preventers HQ, War Room _

_1312 hours _

All eyes were on the young acrobat as his own face bore in to that of the new girl. All at once, here eyes flashed, and she blinked in shock.

Midii studied the Preventer before her; could this really be possible? Well, it certainly was possible, just not plausible. Then again, with both of them being such excellent combat operatives as they were, in a post-war society, what other organization suited them better than Preventer? Was it really him? "No Name…" she whispered.

He'd grown a lot since she'd last seen him – not that she didn't expect it. He easily cleared 6'3". He was broad-shouldered, chiseled, and muscular. He still wore his hair in the unibang style; it covered one of his piercing green eyes just as she remembered. His face was hardened into what seemed to be a mixture of surprise, anger, and possibly hatred, and she knew she deserved every bit of it. She remembered him as the kind gentle boy she'd met eight years ago – the boy who had spared her life. Still, she couldn't help but fear him.

The focus of attention was again Midii. Her expression out rightly showed shock and fear. A glance to Trowa and one could understand her fear. If looks could kill, Midii would have been dead the moment he'd laid eyes on her.

Something snapped in Quatre as he studied the two Preventers before him. He tilted his head slightly to the side in understanding, "_You're_ Midii Une."

Seven pairs of eyes now rested on the young Arab; Trowa's gaze did not leave Midii.

A few seconds ticked by before Trowa tore his eyes from Midii to face Director Une. He didn't know how to react, and suddenly, the room was extremely hot and over-crowded. He needed to get out. Take a walk. Return to his office. Anything to get away from _her_.

"Please excuse me," he stated. He shoved his way past Midii and through the door to which she still held the knob.

The room was silent a little longer until Heero stood up. "I have to go," he said pushing his chair underneath the table. Director Une nodded in consent, and he turned to Midii who was still standing in the doorway. As he passed her, he mumbled, "Nice meeting you," and was gone.

The Director cleared her throat and called to Midii, "Please come in and shut the door behind you."

She did as she was told, and took a seat at the table two seats away from Quatre.

Not a big fan of silence, Duo voiced the question that was on everyone's minds, "Okay. So what exactly just happened?" He looked first to Midii and then to Quatre. "One of you two knows, if not both of you."

Quatre leaned back in his chair and placed his hands in the air in surrender, "You're right; I do know, but it's not my place to tell you. Trowa told me in confidence, and I'm not going to break that trust he placed in me."

"Trowa?" Midii asked quietly. Her head was bowed; she seemed to be studying the table intensely, "Is that his name now?"

Quatre turned to the new girl and nodded, "Yes. His name is Trowa Barton now."

Midii made a small sound that could pass as a laugh, "You're joking."

"No. It's a long story."

She looked wistful, "Well, so is mine…"

"Would either of you consider throwing us a bone here?" Duo interrupted irritatedly.

"From what I can tell," Director Une began, "You two have met before. Whatever happened between you didn't go well."

"Great deduction, Sherlock," Duo drawled sarcastically. He was met with a glare from his superior and gave her a sheepish grin.

"You could say that," Midii answered.

"Were you enemies?" Wufei asked. He had never seen Trowa express any emotion, but the mere sight of this girl had caused him to become openly angry and even leave the room. What power did this girl have over the ever-stoic Trowa?

She was silent for a few moments. When they'd met, they'd been friends. They'd been more than friends. She hadn't thought of him as a brother, but still, she loved him as no ten-year-old should have been able to love. She had never thought of him as her enemy; that was why she saved him. But then, her purpose had been clear from the beginning: she infiltrated the camp, befriended the crew, and gave away their location thereby offering up their lives to the Alliance for the lives of her family. That didn't exactly classify her as his ally, did it?

"His answer," she finally spoke up, "Would be yes."

"What's your answer?" Wufei pressed.

"Yes and no," she raised her head to meet Wufei's gaze.

Duo frowned, "Uh, how –"

"You infiltrated his unit," Sally cut him off. It was more a statement than a question.

A sad smile appeared on her face as she lowered her head to look at the table once again, "Yes… It was my first mission, and thanks to me, he was the only survivor."

Was she taking credit for his survival or the deaths of his unit? No one could tell.

----------------------

_Ministry of Foreign Affairs _

_Front Awning _

_1:28 pm _

The black limousine, (Heero had insisted saying that pink stood out too much. Plus, Relena had grown up – pink was rather embarrassing…), was waiting for Relena when she and Lance exited the front doors of the Foreign Ministry Building.

Lance was alert, looking every which-way to spot potential threats and dangers to his charge. There were no threats atop any buildings, in the trees, on the other side of the limo, swarming from behind… The awning was secure.

He turned to Relena and nodding, he outstretched his hand to the limo indicating that she could climb inside the vehicle safely.

Relena frowned; normally, Heero would open the door to the limo and inspect the interior for other possible threats. Where was he, anyway?

She was going to voice her concerns about the limo to Lance when she noted that he was in his own world as he scanned the rooftops and trees for possible snipers. She mentally shrugged; Heero was a bit over-protective, anyway. Besides, the chances that a bomb or hijacker resided in the limo were well out of the realm of possibility. She stepped past Lance and reached for the handle. Just as she was about to pull, a hand placed itself over hers preventing her from opening the door. The tingling sensation she felt on her skin where they were touching told her to whom the hand belonged before she turned to face him. They were only inches apart.

Their eyes met, and she could see the cold fury lurking behind the gentleness reserved for her only in his cobalt eyes. His anger was not directed at her, and she chanced a glance at Lance who, oblivious to Heero's arrival, was still looking for snipers.

"Step away from the car, Relena," he told her gently as he released his grip on her fingers.

She obliged and stepped back. She tapped Lance on the shoulder as Heero opened the door and inspected the interior of the limo. Lance turned to Relena and was going to ask her what was wrong, but she merely pointed to Heero who had just finished inspecting the car; the Gundam Pilot's signature death glare was aimed fully at the unsuspecting Preventer who had just realized his mistake.

"I…" he stammered. "Sir!" he settled for a crisp salute at his loss for words.

Heero's glare did not waver as he continued to stare down the helpless guard. His attention shifted to Relena, his features softening dramatically. He nodded towards the car, "It's safe. Go on; I'll join you in a moment."

Lance gulped audibly, and Relena couldn't help but pity the young man. Heero was back to glaring at him when Relena placed her hand on the furious Preventer's arm. His attention was abruptly on her. "Please, Heero," she said staring directly into his blue orbs, "Don't be too angry."

He frowned slightly; didn't she understand that all it took was one mistake and she could be dead? He again nodded in the direction of the limo, and she climbed in. He glared at Lance, "I will see you in my office later on today. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," he responded timidly.

"Go," Heero commanded him before following Relena and shutting the door behind him.

The limo sped off leaving behind one very worried young man. He'd managed to get on Heero Yuy's, the former pilot of the Wing Zero Gundam, Preventer Zero's bad side. This was definitely not good.

----------------------

_Preventer HQ _

_War Room _

_1334 hours _

"– Thus escaping with the data completely undetected," Midii finished. Director Une had requested that the newest Preventer give her strategy for attaining the data in the exercise they'd just recently finished.

"Well, yeah, that would'a worked, too…" Duo mused then unnecessarily raised his hand as if asking permission to continue speaking, "Uh, considering that I'm the only one from Recon Team, how come _I'm_ getting the lecture?"

"It's not just you; everyone needs to hear this," Director Une informed him. "If the information we received yesterday from our imbedded operative pans out, we need to be at our best. Not only that, but we are going to need all the help we can get."

"Well, minus Heero and Trowa, I'd say that you're looking at the best of the best," Duo replied smugly.

She nodded in agreement, "Yes, and the two missing from that list have already been contacted."

"Two…?" Duo began.

"Really?" Sally asked excitedly, "Are they already on their way?"

"I don't know; you can call them and find out."

----------------------

_Preventer Shuttle D48X (Code Name Distance) _

_Low Orbit Around Mars _

_Sector 32, Satellite 4 inbound _

_February 26, AC 198 _

_0942 hours (Mars Colonial Time) _

Lucrezia Noin sat at the control panel of the Distance. After this satellite, they'd only have three left. Once the routine systems checks and repairs were made to all seven satellites, they would be on their way to Earth.

"Zechs," she called his attention on the com. He was in the back room geared up to greet the vacuum of space.

He replied immediately, "Go ahead."

"We'll reach the fourth satellite in thirty seconds."

"Acknowledged."

The satellite they were approaching was a communication satellite. It was long and shaped like a "t." The satellites always had monthly check-ups, but this month, there was actually something wrong. Communication on Mars had always been second rate due to the atmosphere and particles therein, but recently, no one could manage to get a signal. Rather annoyed with how things had worked out on Mars, Noin had convinced the Terraforming Technical Director that she and Zechs could take care of it. It wasn't a lie; their mechanics skills were, like everything else, top notch. The raven haired woman couldn't claim that ulterior motives had nothing to do with her request, though.

"Adjusting velocity," she informed him on the com. "We'll be in synchronized orbit with satellite four in… three, two, one. Synchronized orbit achieved. It's all you, Zechs."

"I'm heading out," he told her. "Stay steady for me, Noin."

A light smile played at the corner of her mouth at his double meaning, "Of course, Zechs."

"This should only take twenty minutes at the most. Zechs out."

She leaned back in her chair and sighed. Zechs Merquise, as of the last two months, had been extremely flirtatious with her – well, for himself, anyway. Not that they'd seen much of each other in the last two months or even six months, for that matter.

They'd arrived on Mars a little over a year ago. (One year and sixty days, to be precise), and things had gone from good to bad to worse. It wasn't the work; no, no, she enjoyed the hard labor of building a new colony and sculpting the Martian landscape for humans. It wasn't that at all. It was the schedule.

When the two had arrived, they'd been slightly caught off guard at what had already been accomplished, and how many people were already there. Compared to now, however, Terraformer was small back then.

The two had started things off doing the same job at the same time in the same dome and living in the same dome. Then they were doing different jobs at the same time in the same dome. Then it was different jobs, different times in the same dome. Then it was different jobs, different times, different domes, but still living in the same dome. Finally, about six months ago, (five months and twenty-three days), Noin had been required to move from Red City, (the third dome to be completed and home to her and Zechs for eight months), to H Dome.

Due to this severe schedule, she and Zechs had rarely seen each other in the past few months. Before her move, they'd been able to see each other at least once a week, but now they were lucky to run into each other once a month. A few times, she'd returned home from work to find a note from him generally asking how she was, but over all, their communication had been severely cut off. Considering the minor detail that she'd followed him to Mars specifically to avoid this lack of communication, Noin was just a bit PO'ed.

At the last progress meeting, the issue of the satellites had been brought to the fore, and Noin immediately volunteered herself and Zechs. It took some persuasion to allow them to go, let alone without any "extra hands," but here they were. It was originally going to be just one day, but now they'd been called back to Earth by their duty to the Preventers and the world in general. She couldn't help but be excited; returning to Earth meant seeing all her old friends and at least three days on a shuttle alone with Zechs.

Not that three days alone together meant anything would happen. In fact, knowing their luck, more than likely, _nothing_ would happen. Aside from meeting at a military academy, joining an organization where fraternization was not allowed, being separated time and time again, facing each other on the battlefield, and so on, they seemed to have the worst luck when it came to trying to make their friendship a more meaningful relationship. Something always happened to prevent it (like their schedule…). For instance, take today's example.

_.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. _

_Preventer Shuttle D48X Distance _

_February 26, AC 198 _

_0416 hours (Mars Colonial Time) _

_They had just achieved low orbit around Mars from their recent launch and were ten minutes away from the first satellite. Noin was going to take care of the first two, and then she and Zechs would alternate pairs until he received the last one. _

_Noin stood up from the co-pilot seat as she stretched. "I guess I'll go get suited up," she said with a yawn. _

_Zechs simply nodded as he held back a yawn of his own. He was quite thrilled with the prospect of being on a shuttle alone with Noin once again, but he wasn't too happy about the time. _

_Noin headed towards the back of the shuttle and rolled her neck around. She then reached up and started to kneed the muscles between her neck and shoulders. The work she'd done the day before had been rather taxing on her back and arms, but what made it a bit of a problem was that blasted cot she slept on. On Mars, it was actually a decent bed for one of the Terraforming workers, but to Noin, it was like sleeping on cement. Plus the simple stress of Mars, let alone barely ever seeing Zechs… She was by no means as sensitive as the Princess and the Pea, but support and comfort were two things that Noin apparently needed. _

_Suddenly, Zechs was behind her massaging her neck and back. Her arms fell to her sides, and she leaned into him. _

_"Mmm… That feels great, Zechs. Thanks…" Her eyes were shut as he worked out all the knots from her neck and shoulders, "I didn't sleep well last night…" _

_"Hm," he said; Noin felt his deep voice resonate in his chest as she continued to lean against him. "I didn't sleep well last night, either," he said softly into her ear. "I was too excited about coming up here with you…" his lips grazed her ear as he spoke, and she shivered. _

_Noin stiffened when he planted a kiss on her neck right below her jaw line. He gently nudged her, and she tilted her head back exposing her neck at his request. His hands, having forgotten their purpose in massaging her shoulders, lightly rested on her waist. She relaxed into his embrace as he planted more light, feather kisses on her neck, jaw line, and ear. _

_"Zechs…" she breathed into his ear. _

_Out of the blue, they heard the clicking sound of a stack of papers being shuffled together followed by a voice, "Tell him I'll call him back at a more convenient time. I have to brief the participants of today's drill in fifteen minutes; I don't have time right now." _

_Zechs and Noin sprang apart and turned to face the viewing screen; all they saw was the back of a stack of papers in someone's hands. _

_"Wind and Fire," the papers disappeared and in their place was Director Une. "Oh, there you are." She frowned, "Why didn't you answer?" _

_Well, at least she hadn't seen them – a small consolation prize. _

_"We were prepping for our current mission; we must not have heard it," Zechs answered casually. _

_"This must be important if you overrode the system," Noin pointed out. Only Zechs understood that what she truly meant was "This had better be important." He allowed a small smirk to play at the corner of his mouth. _

_Une nodded, "It is. Even though this is a secure line, I don't trust it, so I'm going to be brief. I'm activating you two and calling you to Earth immediately. We have a situation on our hands." _

_Wind and Fire frowned at each other and then turned back to the Director. _

_"What's going on?" Zechs asked. _

_"A lot. I'll brief you when you arrive. I've already spoken with the director of the Terraforming Project; you two are clear to leave after you finish those satellites. I had to use the Preventers' satellite to get through, though." She turned to Noin with a slight frown on her face, "Why did you volunteer for this job, anyway? It's not something you normally do…" _

_She shrugged, "Just itching for some change, I guess." Did it matter if that change was seeing Zechs for once? She didn't think so. _

_As ambiguous as Fire's answer was, Gold seemed to understand perfectly. "I see," she said with a slight smirk appearing on her features. So that was why they didn't answer and the reason for Noin's more-chilly-than-usual demeanor towards her…Usually, Noin was happy to see her; at this particular moment, she didn't look pleased at all. She suddenly felt the urge to apologize, but squelched it. This matter was urgent; romantic excursions would have to come second. _

_Une turned her attention to both Preventers in front of her once again, "How long are the satellites going to take?" _

_"The shortest estimate puts it around six hours," Zechs stated. "I anticipate somewhere between eight and ten, though." _

_Gold sighed, "Do you think you could possibly finish in six? It's two and a half days to Earth as it is." _

_Noin nodded, "I think we can manage that so long as we don't run into any unexpected problems." _

_"Excellent. I'll see you in three days, then. Gold out." Her image winked off screen. _

_"You think it's the assassination attempts?" Noin asked turning to Zechs. _

_He nodded, "Let's get to work. We need to leave as soon as possible." _

_.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-._

Noin allowed a grin to settle itself on her features as she remembered their little encounter earlier that morning. They'd been too busy with the satellites to even think about it, though. Satellite number three had put them behind schedule, and they were doing everything they could think of save cutting corners to save time. The good news was that communication on Mars was up and running again. That meant that the rest of the satellites were probably fine, and that they'd over estimated the time it would take to repair them.

She started running simulations to see if she could shave a few hours off the time it would take to get to Earth. Zechs had already eliminated three hours of the journey, but Noin was convinced that she could do more. She was right; she cut a grand total of thirteen minutes off the flight path. She frowned and put in some new calculations.

----------------------

_Black Limo _

_En Route to ESUN Meeting _

_1:36 pm _

The silence in the limo was deafening. Relena and Heero sat facing each other on opposite corners. He was looking around for any sign of danger, as usual. She, on the other hand, was watching him. More like waiting for him to notice her, actually. She had no doubt that he was well aware of her gaze.

A few more moments passed, and Relena, as stubborn as she was, was becoming painfully aware of how little she had prepared for this meeting. She really needed to finish her presentations – preferably before they arrived. She was about to abandon her pursuit of trying to get Heero to talk to her and reach for her laptop inside her briefcase when he spoke.

"Relena?"

"Yes, Heero?" she said almost too suddenly.

Heero's gaze traveled from the window to his charge, "You do understand the consequences of one mistake regarding your safety, don't you?" He said this more as a statement, though he was slightly inquisitive. What could she have possibly meant when she said not to be too angry? If she understood the stakes, how could she fault his anger? It didn't make sense.

So that was what was bothering him… He was still angry about Lance. "Yes, Heero, I do. But sometimes…" she stopped. She didn't want to offend him or make him think she was ungrateful for his protection and friendship.

"Sometimes what?" he asked emotionlessly.

She met his gaze for a moment, then turned to look out the window. "I don't want you to think that I'm ungrateful or second guessing you. On the contrary, you have no idea how much I appreciate you. You're more help than you will ever know," she said softly, then realized that it was too much information, and she was veering off into another matter entirely between them. She rested her eyes on him again, "You're my confidant and friend, Heero, and I know you're the best at what you do, but sometimes… Sometimes, aren't you a bit over zealous?"

"Over zealous?" he repeated in his monotone voice.

"Like going overboard," she elaborated, "In your protection and precaution of me."

He snorted, "They're terrorists and assassins, Relena. They don't play by 'the rules.' You can't be over-zealous. – Especially when it comes to you."

"What are the chances that between security and the front gate, someone will get into this car or plant a bomb in it, Heero?"

"I don't think you want to know the actual number."

She blinked.

"The point is that there's still a chance, and that's a risk I'm not willing to take."

She sighed and glanced back out the window. He was right. She received about a thousand death threats a week. Ninety-nine percent of them were false, of course, but there was always that one percent. As Heero often reminded her through a quote, her enemies only had to be right once; they had to be right 100 of the time. It was only one mistake, but…

"What are you going to do to him?"

Heero shrugged, "Reprimand him. Submit a report to Director Une. Never allow him to work guard detail again."

She turned sharply at the last one.

"He didn't even know I was there, Relena. It's not like I tried to hide my arrival, either."

She sighed heavily, "This peace is such a façade…"

He nodded, "Right now, yes."

She met his eyes, "Was it ever more than a façade, Heero?"

He stayed silent at her question. He had no doubt that the world had tasted true peace for a short time. However, the leaders of this peace experienced no such thing. How could they? With every decision they made, at least a billion people found fault in it. Some of those people were unstable and decided to take matters into their own hands by becoming terrorists and assassins. He didn't know how to tell Relena that she would never know true peace like the rest of the world.

Even so, she deserved a solace, a sanctuary. It was unfair that she did all the work but received no reward for it. There had to be something that could make her happy and take her mind off her work and the world. Some place… Someone…

He mentally stiffened at that thought. He knew that he was that someone for Relena. – Or so she thought. His eyes strayed to her; she was lost in her own thoughts just as much as he was.

He did indeed reciprocate her feelings, but she could never know. It would never work out between them, and it was highly inappropriate. He was a soldier, the Perfect Soldier, and she a former pacifist and princess of the Cinq Kingdom. She was a Peacecraft, even if she didn't go by that name. His mind latched onto Zechs for a moment; he'd sold out his birthright and the ideals of his family and kingdom, but he was still a good man. Heero knew that; he'd always known that Zechs was a good man even though they'd been enemies. He'd done the bloodshed himself, but he was still okay; Heero, as a soldier, asking for a relationship with the other Peacecraft surely couldn't be so bad? He silenced that thought. Even if that was true, he was the Perfect Soldier; he didn't know if he was really in love with this girl in the first place. For all he knew, she was simply a symbol of innocence that he felt he needed to protect in order to atone for his many sins. Not to mention their status: she was the Vice Foreign Minister, and he her head of security and bodyguard. A relationship would reek of scandal and cause Relena more trouble than it was worth. It wasn't too hard for him to imagine her political enemies calling for her resignation if something like that should happen.

"Heero," she said breaking his thoughts, "Why don't you ever let me thank you?"

He met her eyes and noticed that she was genuinely troubled about this, "I don't need thanks. It's my –"

"Job," she said with him. "I know. But Heero, that doesn't make me any less appreciative." She turned away from him, "I can't stand that my job puts you in danger."

He frowned, "It puts you in danger, too."

"Heero…" she trailed off. It was obvious that she thought his observation beside the point.

He was silent for a moment as he collected his thoughts. "I'd protect you even if it wasn't my job, Relena." He didn't know if that would help matters or make them worse. How could she that _she_ put him in danger when he chose to be there?

"Yes, I know. You volunteered for this job, and I know that it was you in the shadows before you officially became my head of security."

That startled him. She'd never told him that she knew he was there all along. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised; she knew him too well. He decided not to dwell on it and instead continued on his previous line of thought. He hesitated, "I would protect you even if you weren't the Vice Foreign Minister, Relena."

She looked him straight in the eyes after he said that. Did he realize what he'd just revealed to her? She wasn't just some political official to protect; her life had value to him. She didn't remember when or why she'd ever questioned that, but she was glad that he'd answered her wonder, anyway.

"I choose to be there, Relena. It's my choice. You don't put me in any danger."

She stared at him for a moment, then smiled, "Thank you, Heero." She waited for his classic response. Instead, he surprised her.

He nodded. "You're welcome," he said after a moment.

She gave a small laugh, and he allowed a smirk to permeate his features.

----------------------

_Preventers HQ _

_1332 hours _

Trowa walked slowly around the perimeter of the HQ building with his hands shoved into his pockets and his head bent low in thought and remembrance.

Why did this have to happen? _How_ did it happen? The second question wasn't too hard to answer. What better place was there for retired soldiers? – Unless she was a spy. How did they know she wasn't part of some terrorist group? How was he supposed to trust her? That was easy to answer, as well: he wouldn't. Instead, he'd rely on his friends and Director Une. If she was a spy, wouldn't Une know?

_'Not necessarily,'_ his mind told him.

Well, wait. Director Une was highly capable. Did he really have such faith in _her_?

_'No,'_ he decided. He didn't.

_'So why not trust her? If Une is convinced she's okay, why not?' _

He frowned. What a good question.

'She may be wrong,' he thought, but he knew he didn't believe that. It was something besides his faith in his boss that made him doubt the possibility of Midii being a spy. For the life of him, he couldn't understand it.

He hated her, didn't he? He wasn't sure. He certainly had a reason to: she'd taken everything from him.

_'But didn't it work out for the better?'_ his mind pondered as if of its own free will. _'If I hadn't been forced to leave them, what would have happened with Operation Meteor? Would I still have ended up as the pilot of Heavyarms and the new Trowa Barton who put a stop to Operation M? … I don't know…" _

Then another thought, _'What if it was fate?' _

_'Shut up,'_ he told the voice. He wasn't going to forgive her crimes on account of "fate." She'd chosen to go through with it.

_'But if it really was fate, someone else would have done it, right? Or maybe something worse would have happened…?' _

_'Shut up! Shut up!'_ This was ridiculous. He'd spent the better part of ten years hating this girl, and now that she was here, he was creating excuses for her? What the h--- was wrong with him?

The image of a young blonde girl fiddling with her necklace flashed through his mind, and he cursed aloud. He remembered her mentioning her brothers and father… What if she'd had no choice?

_'All's fair in love and war.' _

Was that true? He didn't know, and he didn't want to think about it, but his mind wouldn't stop.

He'd trusted her. He'd become her friend. No, more than her friend. He was only somewhere around the age of ten at the time, so he wasn't in love with her, but it was more than just a regular friendship. He didn't think of her as his sister, but somehow, they were between friends and lovers. He'd cared for her deeply for reasons he didn't understand, and she'd ripped his heart out and broken it into a million pieces when she'd betrayed him. He'd become even more cold and stoic after that, yet he never forgot her or… 'Stop it.'

He thought back to seeing her in the doorway only a few minutes beforehand. She'd matured well over the years. If he was honest with himself, he'd say she was beautiful. If she wasn't Midii Une, he would have been attracted to her.

…

Who was he kidding? Certainly not himself. So he was attracted to her – her appearance, anyway. And her eyes; he couldn't forget her eyes. But it didn't matter what she looked like. What mattered was who she was, and he would not allow himself to entertain even the slightest possibility of caring about her again.

_'How are you going to do that?' _

_'Don't say it,'_ he ordered.

_'I don't need to. We're one in the same, and you already know.' _

S---. So this was from where all the confusion stemmed. How was it possible? It didn't make sense. He'd never forgiven her, yet he still cared about her. It made absolutely no sense. He was certainly still angry with her about it, and still felt pain from the wound she'd given him that day. He held not one ounce of trust in her save that she probably wasn't a spy this time. Yet through all that, somehow, she still held a place in his tightly guarded heart.

Oh, he didn't care about her as much as before, but seeing her again had awoken something in him. Something was going to happen between them; he'd seen it in her eyes, as well. He didn't know what it was, but he knew he was afraid to find out.

----------------------

Reily Association Building

Earth – Paris, France

February 26, AC 198

1:23 pm

Preventer Snow peaked around her desk and listened to the hallway and office around her intently for any sounds. The coast seemed clear, so she hurriedly pulled up the banking transactions of the Reily Association. She had to e-mail this to her man in Preventer. – No. Not her "man;" her _contact_. There. That sounded better.

Inputting some commands, she disguised her e-mail as a simple memo and then encoded it. With a click of the mouse, it was on its way to its first destination where it would bounce and bound its way across the internet covering its trail until it finally found its way to Preventer Desert. He and the others would check out the information.

She x-ed out of the window and erased all evidence. Then she pulled up what she was supposed to be working on for her "boss:" an invite for the Reily Association's ball celebrating their fifth anniversary. She rolled her eyes as she glanced over the list of invitees. What made this man think he was so important that he could invite and actually expect government officials to attend his little ball? Especially when he was so dead-set against that government.

It was no secret as to what the Reily Foundation believed in; they stood for isolationism. They were capitalists to the absolute core both monetarily and socially. They were individualists. They believed that life gravitated around competitions for survival. They thought that the ESUN , while intending to be a loose confederation, was muchtoo controlling with the establishment of a world-wide monetary unit and other such laws. They absolutely hated the proposed idea of sharing wealth to pay other countries' debts seeing it as a socialist practice. - Not that they were wrong with that assesment. -They believed that the countries needed to stay separate and alone creating their own trade with the colonies and neighbors as well as their own laws. They thought the world lacked passion; after all, the ESUN made the issue of patriotism moot, in their opinion.

This was their outer shell: what everyone saw. Preventer Snow had stumbled upon something bigger, though. Mr. Reily was a supremacist; he believed that the people on Earth were supreme to the "drifters." In AC, to be called a drifter, which simply meant a citizen of a colony, was equal to calling a black person the n-word, a woman the b-word, or a soldier a Nazi. It had found its way into the ABC's of naughty words.

Reily and his Associations believed that the colonists were indebted to Earth for putting them there, for all the years of war, for the first operation meteor, for the second attempt of operation meteor, and for the White Fang. In essence, Reily and his followers believed the colonists should be slaves to the people of Earth to pay off this debt. Of course, this debt could never be paid off.

The rather disturbing part of this was his association's role in politics today. Mr. Reily was actually a powerful bureaucrat in the scheme of things. Many of his ideas found their way into the ESUN's list of bills, and while none of them ever passed, the fact remained that they'd made it past committee.

The even more disturbing information Preventer Snow had run across was that of Utopian Society. Utopian Society was a terrorist group that the Preventers couldn't quite find anything about or even pinpoint their ideals. A few people suspected to be part of US were also members of the Reily Association. While no transactions between the organizations had been recorded, the presence of so many suspected terrorists within one organization had led the Preventers to the RA. That was Snow's mission. She had infiltrated RA and was now Mr. Reily's secretary. So far, she'd found out more about US, including their targets, through the RA than the Preventers had been able to drudge up anywhere else. This little fact made the RA even more suspicious, and now a full scale investigation of the RA was taking place.

"Ah, Ms. Catalonia."

Preventer Snow looked up and came face to face with Harrison Wolfe, the vice president of the RA and Mr. Reily's best friend. He was 26 with dark brown hair that was never quite neat, always finding a way out of his desired hair style. He had turquoise eyes and a smile that could light up a room. His beard was well manicured, but still gave him a slightly gruff appearance. Over all, however, he looked quite harmless.

"Yes, Mr. Wolfe?" Snow answered.

"Has my good friend already set off on his business trip?"

"I believe so, yes, Mr. Wolfe."

"I see… Please call me Harry, Dorothy."

Dorothy held back a frown. She couldn't stand these games he played with her. It was apparent that he was attracted to her. "Yes, sir. If you'll excuse me, I must finish my work."

He looked disappointed when she'd called him sir – a look Dorothy took pleasure in. "Of course, Dorothy," he smiled and bowed. Then he left her to her work.

She held back a sneer; how much longer was she stuck on this assignment?

----------------------

Preventers HQ

War Room

1338 hours

"That concludes this meting. You all have your assignments, so go attend to them." Director Une turned to Quatre, "And please inform me the moment you receive your next message from Snow."

Quatre glanced at the watch on his wrist, "I should already have one if everything's going okay."

She nodded. "I didn't have a chance to give you a tour," she said turning to Midii, "But I'm sure Mr. Maxwell won't mind escorting you to the office you'll be sharing with Preventer Hawk. She's our resident sleuth, and keeps an eye on just about everything from her computer screen. If you ever have any questions regarding background information, field layout or anything else, ask her; she'll more than likely know."

"Hey! That's Hilde!" Duo said jumping up. He then put a thoughtful hand under his chin, "She didn't mention anything about getting a partner… Oh well. Come on," he said happily to Midii as she stood up. "I'll give you the whirlwind tour Maxwell style!"

Midii smiled somewhat as Duo led the way pointing out this office and that office as they headed for the elevator. The others were behind Midii and Duo talking quietly amongst themselves or watching and listening to Duo's tour.

"Now this," Duo said standing in front of the elevator, "Is the elevator."

"Uh, Duo, I'm sure she can recognize an elevator when she sees one," Sally said pointedly.

"Don't interrupt the tour guide!" he said defensively.

"Duo, I don't mind you enjoying yourself from time to time, but please remember to get back to work quickly," Director Une said as they entered the elevator.

"Yes ma'am!" he mock saluted. He reached over and pressed two buttons: levels seventy and seventy-five. He turned to Midii gravely, "Now there's something important you must remember about the elevator: Never, and I mean _never_ press level 75."

"What!" Sally cried out, "Duo, why are you trying to confuse the poor girl?"

Director Une, on the other hand, held back a chuckle keeping her face as serious and stoic as possible.

Midii raised an eyebrow, "Why?"

Duo stuck his tongue out at Sally playfully, then stepped closer to Midii with a serious look on his face. "Because that's where _her_ office is," he pointed to Director Une.

Quatre let a small chuckle escape him as Duo continued.

"Believe me; you _never_ want to be in that office," he looked timidly at his boss only a yard away from him, "She gets scary…"

Director Une couldn't hold it in any longer. She threw the pen in her hand at the braided youth, hitting him right between his eyes.

"Ouch!" Duo said rubbing the bridge of his nose as the elevator broke out into laughter. "See?" he turned to Midii laughing, as well. "Aww, not you too!"

"Serves you right, Duo," Une said her eyes alight with laughter. "May I have my pen back?"

He picked up the salvo and warily handed it over to her. "I think I'll sue…" he said off handedly.

She smiled slightly and looked past him to Midii, "He's right, though. Do try to avoid that level. There is not a single time of the day that it's not busy. When dignitaries visit, that's the level they go to. Many meetings and other formalities take place there as well, along with the regular hustle and bustle of Preventer business. If you need to speak with me, make sure it's urgent."

"Yes ma'am," Midii said as the elevator pinged their arrival to the 70th floor.

They stepped out onto the dark green tile floor as the elevator shut behind them taking Director Une to the 75th floor. The Preventer seal was imbedded/drawn into the tile right in the center of the, what you could call, lobby. There were three vertical hallways from Midii's perspective: one along the building's right exterior, one down the middle of the floor, and another one along the building's left exterior. There were theoretically two horizontal hallways: the one they were standing in now and one on the other side of the floor.

"Okay, so what you see in front of you is the best hallway," Duo said indicating the middle hallway that was parallel with the elevator. "Walk down that way, and you see that room in the middle? That's the break room. Coffee, snacks, and my personal favorite, candy and sodas! – Hey! How about I escort everyone to their offices so Midii can learn your names easier? Is that all right?" he asked Midii.

"That would be great," Midii said appreciatively.

"Just hurry it up, Maxwell. I have work to do," Wufei growled.

"Oy, Wu-man! Your office is first!"

They took a right and came to the first corner office. A corner office was an office reserved for partners. The medium sized offices, which they hadn't approached yet, were for esteemed Preventers without partners. There were two on this floor, and they used to belong to Wind and Fire. They now belonged to Hawk and Snow, though Preventer Snow was a non-existent Preventer for her own safety.

The two doors that led into the corner office were black. They had little navy blue lapels on them; inscribed in gold writing was _Preventer Dragon, Wufei Chang_ and _Preventer Water, Sally Po._ Next to the doors were windows that reached from the ground to the ceiling; they were covered with blinds that were currently drawn closed.

Sally unlocked the door with her name on it, and turned to Midii, shaking her hand. "I'm Sally or Water in the field. Aside from my duties as a Preventer, I'm also a doctor, so don't be surprised if you see me ragging on someone about their health – even you," she gave a wink. "And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a phone call to make."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Midii said as Sally left and headed into the office.

Wufei glanced at Midii appraisingly. Because of the effect she'd had on Trowa, he respected her a little more than he normally would have, but he didn't intend on being any more courteous than usual.

"I'm Wufei or Dragon," he said with his arms crossed. "Just be sure to stay out of my way." With that, he followed Sally in to the office.

Midii blinked.

"Don't worry about him," Duo said, "He's always like that. – Hey, wait…" He poked his head into their office, "Hey, Sally, who are you calling?"

"Zechs and Noin," she answered.

"They're coming back!"

"That's what Anne said. – Now go finish your tour. I'll tell you later if they're on their way."

"Sweet! – All right. Moving on with the tour…" Duo said as he turned and paused at a door adjacent to Wufei's and Sally's office. "This is the stair well should you ever need to use it. There's another one directly opposite this one on the other side," he said pointing. "We're seventy floors up; I suggest never using it unless you HAVE to," he said with a wink.

He led them down the right vertical hallway Midii had noticed before. They passed some regular sized offices; some of them were occupied and others were vacant. "Now to your left," Duo said when they reached the center of the hallway and a medium-sized office with the lights turned out, "Is the office of Preventer Snow. She's out on a mission right now, and actually, she doesn't exist on any Preventer database. That's for her own protection; be careful when mentioning her name." On the door, the lapel read, _Preventer Snow, Dorothy Catalonia. _

They came to the next corner office; the lights were also out in this one. The lapels read _Preventer Wind, Zechs Merquise_ and _Preventer Fire, Lucrezia Noin_.

"These two aren't here right now, but Sally said they're on their way. They up and disappeared a few days after that incident with Dekim Barton. We found out later that they essentially eloped to Mars," Duo explained. "They've been on standby as reserve Preventers all this time."

"Duo! They didn't elope!" Quatre chided.

"Come on, Quatre. I'll place a bet with you right here right now that when they get back, Zechs is all over Noin."

Quatre paled, "That's wrong, Duo."

"So you'll take the bet?" Duo asked hopefully.

"I was referring to the bet."

"Oh. So you agree with me, then."

"No. I don't know! Duo, it's none of my business!"

"Suit yourself! I bet Trowa and Heero won't mind placing some bets…" Duo turned to Midii and pointed to Quatre over his shoulder, "He's the modest one. He doesn't have an impolite bone in his body."

Quatre blushed, "Duo…"

"I swear, he blushes more than any girl I've ever met," Duo said as he led them down the next hallway to their left. It was a mirror image of the other side of the floor where they'd entered from the elevator. There was an elevator on this side as well as the Preventer seal.

"Duo! That was harsh…" Quatre said softly.

"Harsh, but true," he replied as they arrived at the next corner office.

"I thought Zechs Merquise was dead?" Midii asked finally able to get a word in edgewise.

"Nope. He managed to survive that blast in 195. Actually, I have no clue as to how he did – do you, Quatre?"

"No, sorry, I don't."

Duo shrugged, "Noin knew that he had, too. We all thought she was in denial. I feel bad for trying to help her "accept" his death. Imagine our surprise when we found out it was him in the Tallgeese III in that battle in Brussels. I wonder if he sent her a message or visited her, and that's how she knew…?"

"I doubt it. You know her instincts…"

"Yeah…"

Midii blinked, "So you are the Gundam Pilots, then."

Quatre and Duo turned to her slightly surprised.

"You didn't know?" Duo asked.

"Sort of. I was just waiting for confirmation."

"Oh. Well, this is Trowa's and my office," Quatre said as he fished the key out of his pocket. The doors read _Preventer Ice, Trowa Barton_ and _Preventer__ Desert__, Quatre Winner_.

"How are you here if you're supposed to be running Winner Corp?" Midii asked.

Quatre smiled as he unlocked the door, "I'm a 'seasonal' employee. Aside from Heero, Dorothy, Sally, and Wufei, we all are. This is your only job?"

"I don't have any skills for any other jobs," she replied.

"That's great. It makes me feel better about leaving this and attending my civilian job. The more high-ranked full-time Preventers, the better," he said. He turned to her, "We all used feel like instruments of war here. I'm sure in time, you'll learn to cope better, and you'll find out that you're more valuable than just a weapon."

Midii blinked at his words. How did he -?

"I'll talk to Trowa, though you might want to stay away from him right now. You really hurt him, Midii. I don't think he's ever forgiven you."

Midii sighed, "I never gave him a reason to forgive me. I never truly apologized, and I don't know how I would. I don't even know that I've forgiven myself…"

"Perhaps you two needed to meet again in order to get past it, then," Quatre suggested. He smiled and extended his hand to shake Midii's, "I'm glad to have met you, and I look forward to working with you."

"Thank you, Quatre."

He turned to enter his office, but he paused, "What's your code name?"

Midii smiled, "I'm Storm."

"Nice," Duo said appreciatively.

"I like it," Quatre said happily, and he disappeared into his office.

"Well, looks like it's just you and me. Now I kind of feel like you and Hilde – she's your partner – are getting kind of gypped," Duo said as they turned to their right and headed down the last hallway. "You and Hilde are going to be sharing the other mid-size office on this floor which is usually reserved for high-ranking Preventers without partners. But there are no more corner offices, so…"

"I don't mind. – I hope Hilde doesn't. That's her name, right?"

"Yup, and she's my girl!"

"As in dating?" Midii asked pointedly.

"Ahh… Yeah, you could say that. We don't really date; we don't have time for it. But we do live together on L2. We have a scrapping service that we run when we're not here."

"Soo… Fraternization is allowed here?"

Duo laughed, "Oh, yes. Unofficially, of course. That has to do more with Director Une than anything."

Midii raised a curious brow, "Oh?"

Duo glanced to her and for once, decided to keep his mouth shut on an issue, "I think I'd better save that explanation for later. – Here's your office. Oh, hey! They already have your lapel on here!" The door read _Preventer Hawk, Hilde Schbeicker_ and _Preventer Storm, Midii Une. _

Duo knocked on the door which was slightly ajar, "Hey babe! I brought your new partner! – And apparently, you already have a desk," he said to Midii. "This is better than a 5 star hotel… I think I'll just come here instead of looking for a hotel from now on…"

Hilde looked up from her laptop. Her desk contained three computers: a laptop and two PCs. They were always continuously running. "Hey, Duo," she saw Midii and stood up. "I'm Hilde Schbeicker, or Preventer Hawk. I hope you don't mind sharing an office with me," she grinned with her hand outstretched.

"Midii Une, Preventer Storm," she said shaking Hilde's hand. "Pleased to meet you."

"Well, while you two ladies get acquainted and all that jazz, I'm gonna go do my work."

"You're gonna work, Duo?" Hilde asked suspiciously.

"Well, I have to have _something_ done when Heero gets back. Actually, I have some leads that I'm rather eager to follow."

"The ones I gave you?"

"Yup!" he kissed Hilde's cheek and waved to Midii. "See ya' later, Midii. Heero's and my office is the one on this corner," he said pointing. "Heero's the guy who left in the middle of the meeting. He's not too friendly, but he is my best friend. He's the bodyguard of Vice Foreign Minister Dorlain, casually known around here as Relena. I'm sure you'll be meeting her some time soon. His code name is Preventer Zero. I'm Duo Maxwell, if you hadn't put it together by now, and I'm Preventer Shadow. On the field, call me _The_ Shadow," he said with a wink. "Later, girls!" and he left.

----------------------

Preventer Shuttle D48X Distance

Low Orbit Around Mars

Sector 32, Synchronized Orbit with Satellite 4

0953 hours (Mars Colonial Time)

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Noin lifted her eyes from the simulations and grinned. "Incoming Transmission: Preventer Water," the screen read. She reached up and patched her friend through.

"Well, hello there. Long time no see, Sal," Noin greeted her friend.

"Hey, it's not my fault," she said defensively, "That stupid dust ball of yours kept rejecting my calls. – How have you been, Noin?"

"All right, considering the circumstances," she replied. She'd already informed Sally of hers and Zechs' hectic schedules. "How about you? Any progress in taming the Dragon?"

Sally laughed, "As much progress as can be expected." In a low voice, she said, "He actually told me good morning yesterday."

Noin raised a playful eyebrow at this information, "Did he really?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid we took two steps back today…"

"What happened?" Sally's stories always put a grin on Noin's face – especially if they involved Wufei. Perhaps Noin had some lingering resentment over his attack on LVA and even over the fact that Treize, her instructor, mentor, commander, and even somewhat of a friend, had died at his hands. Whatever the reason, she loved to hear stories of torture to the boy. – Or, at least what he classified as torture, anyway. She didn't wish ill on him. She even thought of him as an estranged friend; she simply took pleasure in his little misfortunes.

"We had another drill today. Une thinks it'll come in handy with our new playmates," she said vaguely. This was a secure line, but there really wasn't something such as a secure communication line. "The Dragon and I got into a little _discussion_ over the come line in the middle of the drill. Anne had to break us up."

Noin laughed, "You're joking!"

Sally shook her head.

She laughed again, "What'd she say?"

"Something along the lines of," she changed her voice to imitate Une, "I'm very disappointed in you. You better not behave this way on real missions! And I don't want to say another word to you two!" She chuckled a bit, "Actually, I deserved it. I was the one who started it. The Dragon's still angry with me over it…"

"Are you still, uh…" Noin raised her eyebrow suggestively as she didn't finish her sentence.

Sally raised a brow of her own, "Well, I don't know," she said sarcastically. "What about you two?"

Noin smiled, "Well, as you put it, he's still fanning the flames. – And he's doing a good job of it, too…"

"Oh? I take it he hasn't told you anything yet?" Sally asked all too happy to get off the subject of her and Wufei.

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "No," she said with a frown. Then she grinned, "But he has been flirting a lot."

Sally raised both brows, "The esteemed Zechs Merquise, otherwise known as the Lightning Baron, _flirting_? Now this _is_ a development… Do tell…." she said with a mischievous grin.

Noin laughed. She was blessed to have Sally as a friend. When she had up and left her partner for a life on Mars with Zechs, she feared Sally would be angry with her. As it turned out, Sally became her biggest cheerleader when it came to her relationship with Zechs. Sally fully understood that Noin needed to be with him. She held no hard feelings for the desertion whatsoever. Because of that, Noin felt comfortable filling the woman in on what did and didn't happen between her and Zechs.

"There's too much to tell, Sal. – Including the, ahh… kisses he gave me this morning," she grinned at Sally's gleeful expression. Who would have thought Lucrezia Noin would have a girlfriend with whom she'd giggle and tell secrets to about her love life? If she wasn't careful, the two of them would run off and check out some teenage chick flick when they arrived on Earth.

"I expect a full briefing when you get here, Preventer Fire," Sally said with a grin. "Which reminds me of why I called in the first place; are you two –"

Noin held up her index finger to Sally signaling for her to wait a moment as she received a communication transmission from Zechs.

"Noin?" his voice crackled over the com line.

"What's wrong, Zechs?"

"Nothing," he said. Then he added, "I just wanted to hear your voice…" It was true; he just put it in an _artsy_ way. Usually, Noin would check on him whenever he left the shuttle. Considering that she hadn't contacted him since he left, he wanted to make sure that everything was okay.

Noin grinned and turned to Sally mouthing, "See?"

Sally winked and silently asked if Noin wanted her to call back later.

Noin shook her head and signaled for her to wait, and then turned back to the com line, "That's a colorful way to say you were worried, Zechs."

He chuckled lightly.

"Sorry, Zechs. I've been running some simulations. I just shaved another," she turned to her calculations, "Two hours off our trip. – How's it coming?"

There was a pause before he answered, "This one seems to be okay. I'm going to clean out the memory from these lost transmissions and add the upgrade. It shouldn't take much longer."

"All right, I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Zechs out."

Noin turned to Sally, arms crossed over her chest with a smile on her face.

"What happened to bring about this change?" Sally asked.

Noin shrugged, "I don't know. The last six months, we've barely seen each other. During the last two months, he's become rather… expressive," she settled on.

"I'd say so… He's like that all the time now?"

"No. Just when he thinks it's safe."

Sally chuckled, "I take it I wouldn't have been classified as being 'safe.'"

"Yeah," Noin agreed. "What were you saying before?"

"Well, I can already tell you're not on your way yet. Are you almost ready to leave?"

Noin nodded, "Probably in an hour or so. It turned out only the first three were broken. We don't anticipate any malfunctions in the last three."

"That's great. I'll inform Une."

"Hey, Sal, do you think you could give me any info on why we're being called back? What's going on?"

"Well, I can't tell you much. I –"

"Hey, Sally!" a voice off screen called. It was Wufei, "I need a hand real quick."

"You're asking for help?" Sally asked unbelievingly. She then turned to Noin, "I'll be right back. It must be important if he's actually asking for assistance." She winked at her friend, then placed her friend on hold, the screen turning back to a sea of stars on Noin's end.

----------------------

ESUN Temp HQ

2:47 pm

Relena and Heero had arrived safely at the temporary ESUN HQ three quarters of an hour ago. Relena had been able to get all of her information and presentations in order in the half an hour she'd had before the meeting started. The meeting had been called to order around fifteen minutes ago. It was a strange time to have a meeting, but they were trying to throw off their assassins.

It was Relena's turn to update the council on the colonies next after the Foreign Minister finished his update. Really, her position as the Vice Foreign Minister was more of a liaison, but she was also heavily involved in negotiations should they ever be needed.

The Foreign Minister finished his comments on how the Colonies were fairing over all, and the Chairman took the floor.

"Very good. So all fairs well in space. – Or does it? I believe you have more information for us, don't you, Ms. Vice Foreign Minister?"

Relena nodded, "I do, Mr. Chairman. And the Preventers' Head Coordinating Directors of the Colonies have also asked me to brief the assembled body present today on their progress."

There was a murmur through the audience. Around 500 people were in the auditorium. Along with the officials of the ESUN, there were also the individual country leaders and delegations, some of the bureaucracy, (who were not allowed to say anything), and a seemingly impenetrable security guard detail.

"Well, let's hear about our civilian friends in space first while we're still on the topic. Then we'll eagerly listen to what the Preventers have to say," the Chairman said.

Relena nodded, "The Colonies first asked me to express their anger and outrage as well as their deepest sympathies over the recent assassination attempts on this governing body. They wish to convey their determined will to stand by the ESUN and help in whatever ways they can."

A murmur of approval washed through the diplomats.

Relena then began her short report, "The Colonies are happy with our current trade situation, however, they are requesting more items that can only be made on Earth. They said they would happily trade items that can only be made in space for these other items." She held up a piece of paper with a list, "This list contains what they would like to see more of and all that they're willing to trade. Their one stipulation is no Gundanium."

There was an uproar from a portion of the audience. Half audible accusations of holding onto the metal to make their own mobile suits again were thrown about as the Chairman struggled to regain control of the body.

"Quiet! Quiet! This is not an issue for debate. There are already regulations on the production of Gundanium. They cannot make more, and to ask for more is to take from their well deserved and needed supply. Please continue, Ms. Dorlain."

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The rebuilding of the L5 Colony Cluster is progressing slowly. Much of the debris is still floating around and causing quite a few problems. The reconstruction is currently behind schedule. They are asking for more hands to do the work.

"Quite the opposite is true for Terraforming on Mars, however," she frowned slightly, "They were having communication problems, but I'm sure they're working on those." She reached down and picked up a remote. A white screen was already in place behind her, and she asked that someone dim the lights as she flipped on the projector.

"Aside from that," she said as the fuzzy image slowly materialized on the white screen from her laptop, "They are far beyond schedule. This is due mostly to the overwhelming response of people and families that decided to help in the Terraforming Project."

The picture on the screen was finally in focus; the image was quite astounding. The red planet had a huge patch of green on it the size of Australia and India put together. Small cities and buildings could be made out among the sea of grass. The grass and cities were covered by massive domes, the environmental units in which the people worked and lived. A few domes filled with water – areas of geography that would one day be open lakes, streams, or rivers. Unlike Earth, however, the planet still had no large bodies of water.

"I spoke with the Terraforming Director, Dr. Jule, last week before the communication went out. He said that by next year, he plans to have businesses up and running on Mars. He has already invited some investors to explore the progress and choose lots. That is two years ahead of schedule.

"The cleaning of the air and stabilization of temperature, pressure, and atmosphere is proceeding right on schedule. In five years, just as our original estimates said, there will no longer be a need for the domes on Mars. This is a process that cannot be sped up."

Relena asked that the lights be turned back on as she shut off the projector. "That is my report on the Colonies. This is the corroborated report that I received from the Coordinating Directors of the Preventers in the Colonies." She picked up a piece of paper and began to read, "No progress has been made in the search for the assassins and terrorists who have been attacking the ESUN as of late. There has been no spike in trafficking of any kind including precious metals such as Gundanium, and no suspicious activity has been detected or observed. As there have been no threats made to Colonial leaders and no trail that we have been able to follow, we believe that the threat is based somewhere on Earth. We also believe that the threat is only directed at the ESUN and not the Colonies. We find this information greatly distressing and wish to convey our absolute confidence that this threat is not a result of lingering resentment from the Eve Wars or anything prior. We, the people of the Colonies, wish to live in peace with our brothers and sisters on Earth. We will continue our efforts in investigating these acts of terrorism. Our best agents are already working on Earth with Director Une to put a stop to these attacks." Relena placed the paper down, having finished reading it, thereby opening the floor to debate and comments.

"Their best agents… Well, they seem pretty worthless to me! The Prime Minister of Great Brittan is not here for a reason! – His bodyguard died yesterday saving his life!" the German leader spat angrily with a thick accent.

"What is it that these people want?" the French leader asked.

"Don't tell me you're already thinking about appeasement, Bontecou. The battle hasn't even begun yet," the US representative mocked Frenchman. Since sometime in the late AD era, there had been a strain between the two countries' governments…

"The battle's not supposed to begin!" Bontecou shot back.

"That is what the Preventers are for, no? To prevent the battles," the Canadian representative asked.

"In preventing a war, there often has to be a battle of some kind," the US representative replied calmly. "That's why they're a militaristic organization for the most part."

"You are a country of bloodthirsty cowboys!" Bontecou seethed.

"Thank you. We appreciate such a compliment from a lily-white coward such as yourself," the US representative remarked dryly. "It seems to me that the only option we have is to place our faith in the Preventers. Let's give them what they need in order to succeed."

"Aye," the Irishman said, "We don't even know what they want, so negotiations can't even begin."

"We don't even know _who_ they are," the Russian said with a heavy accent.

"They're terrorists," Relena cut in, "We can't negotiate with them, anyway."

A thoughtful look passed over the Irishman, "Aye, Miss Dorlain. That is true."

"Are we talking about war?" the German interrupted.

"If it comes to that –" the American began.

"No," the Chairman stated firmly. "We are simply discussing the Preventers' role. If it comes to war, then the Preventers will have failed, and we will be subject to their will."

"A rose by any other name is still a rose," the American said quietly. "The Preventers are our only defense, Mr. Chairman. This is a war; we are by no means in a time of peace."

"They are there to _prevent_ the war!" the Canadian said hotly.

"Are you implying that they've failed that objective?" the German hissed.

The American addressed him with a glance and a small smile, "The folly of disarmament… Yes. They were not able to prevent this, and they have failed that objective. The battle will begin soon."

There was a cry of outrage as the American continued, "I suggest that everyone call up their reserves; we might need them. The US has 60,000 strong ready to go and another 50,000 on reserve."

"What do you know, Walker? There have only been assassination attempts…" the Chairman asked suspiciously.

"Yes… That is quite a large military for a time of peace…" the Russian stated.

"We have fifty states, sir. 1,200 regular military and 1,000 guardsmen per state. We did not agree to all the provisions in the Treaty of Eve's End as it violated our Constitution, sir. That is common knowledge that has been subject to a great deal of outrage and criticism," Walker sated this calmly, but it was apparent that he was offended by the accusation.

"What I know, Mr. Chairman, I cannot say," he continued, "We, the United States Government, have been working with the Preventers and are allowing them to take the lead in the investigation. What we have found, however, points to a very large conflict in the future. I suggest that this body prepare for it."

"I can confirm that," the Australian replied speaking for the first time, "If the Preventers are unable to catch these people soon, we're going to have a big problem. Most of our countries have completely disarmed. We have the Preventers, the US, Brittan, China, and my country that did not fully disarm with the consent of this body. Excluding the Preventers, our troop total is somewhere around the 250,000 mark. We have put ourselves in an extremely sticky situation."

"The Preventers are an elite few. Do they even reach 10,000?" the Vice Chairman asked thoughtfully.

"I believe they total around 15,000, sir," Relena replied.

The Chairman sighed, "Were we wrong to disarm?" he asked quietly, almost to himself.

"Yes," Walker replied in a low voice. "Your actions, while rooted in good will, were not realistic. We pay the Preventers to police the world, but that's over 8 billion people. – Over 8 billion people for 15,000 to keep an eye on. It's not realistically feasible. As government officials, we all know the folly of attempting to please everyone or thinking that we can. There are over 8 billion mind sets; we can't possibly hope to please them all."

There was silence in the great room for a few moments.

"I make a motion," the German spoke up, "To temporarily suspend the first clause of the Treaty of Eve's End to allow our countries the opportunity to re-arm until the threat is past."

"I second the motion," stated the Irishman.

"I third it," the Russian interjected.

The Chairman nodded, "I will suspend the rules and take this to an immediate vote. All in favor of suspending the first clause of the Treaty of Eve's End?"

There was a chorus of "Aye" that rang through the room as the leaders raised their hands.

"In order for this motion to pass, we need 148 votes," the Chairman stated. "We have… 132. The motion fails."

"I make a motion," Bontecou stated, "To form a committee whose purpose will be to write out the specifics of a suspension of the first clause of the Treaty of Eve's end to be formed today and finished within 48 hours."

"Your backbone is coming in nicely," Walker remarked quietly so that only the Frenchman could hear him.

"I second that," the German said.

"And I third," the Irishman spoke up.

"I, again, suspend the rules and bring this motion to an immediate vote. All in favor of a committee?"

Another chorus of "Aye" rang through the room louder than before.

"There are 273 votes; the motion passes. Vice Chairman Roland will be the head of this committee. If you wish to be part of it, see him."

----------------------

Preventer Shuttle D48X Distance

Low Orbit Around Mars

Sector 32, Synchronized Orbit with Satellite 4

1003 hours (Mars Colonial Time)

Sitting at the left side panel, Noin was looking through the media coverage of the past now four assassination attempts. She was searching for any clue that would hint at the connection between them all. What information did Preventer have that disproved the copycat theory? And what terrorist organization could be so skilled as to attack four different times in four heavily guarded areas and almost succeed?

She started with the basics: who had been targeted?

Well, that essentially was the entire ESUN's senior officials including Ms. Relena. Anne had also been targeted. Then there were the country leaders: the US President and the British Prime Minister. Plots had been discovered in Australia, as well various other plots in the US and Brittan. Whether these plots were connected was still under investigation.

The link between all the targets was the ESUN, but there had to be something else. Why those three countries and no others? Of course, the answer was the fact that they were armed unlike the rest of the world; they held the greatest threat. That explained why Anne was targeted, as well. It was, then, safe to assume that China would be the next goal.

But why target the ESUN in the first place? What was this all about? Was this some personal vendetta or something bigger? Was this possibly a bid for world domination? If it didn't involve so many lives, Noin would have laughed. World domination was so old, and it always failed. Then again, Earth was susceptible to such a coup-de-ta. The Earth was without almost any defense.

Abandoning the question of the purpose for the time being, Noin turned to the descriptions of the attempted assassins. Not one of them had been caught, and their descriptions were all sketchy. No one had seen their faces as they took special care to cover them. They used different weapons, too. All of them were high quality, custom made sniper rifles. That showed one thing: these people knew what they were doing. Of course, their near-success rate spoke for itself.

So engrossed in her thoughts, Noin didn't even notice Zechs enter the room until his hands were pressed on the back of her chair and he was looking over her shoulder to see what she was studying.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he tapped a few buttons on the screen and skimmed over the information.

"Zechs…" she said his name calmly, but it let him know that she hadn't sense his arrival. He said nothing, only continued reading. "I'm trying to connect the dots. It's only a few assassination attempts; why would she call us back for that? Surely they could handle such a problem without our help."

"Come up with anything?"

"Well, the targets seem to be the ESUN in general as well as Preventer, the US, Great Brittan, and Australia."

"The last armed militaries…" he said as he continued to read through the information, "Theoretically, China should be next."

She nodded, "Yeah."

"Anything else?" he pressed.

"No. I was just looking over the descriptions of the assassins. – I take it you're finished outside."

He nodded as she stood and floated into the pilot seat. She set their next trajectory to satellite 5. They would arrive in about ten minutes.

"Let me show you this real quick before I change," she said pulling up a screen on the control pad in front of her.

He was once again leaning down and looking over her shoulder. On the screen was their new improved route to Earth. The new route would take an approximate 52 hours and 47 minutes.

Zechs traced the new flight path with his eyes until he came to a cloud; it was a debris field and Noin had them traveling straight through it. "Uh, Noin," he said pointing at the position of the debris field on the screen.

"You had us traveling around that," she explained. "Not only does it take up time, but also more fuel. I scanned the debris field; most of the pieces are small fragments of rocks, bits of destroyed mobile suits, and space trash. The largest pieces are around the size of small tires. With you at the helm, we should be able to glide right through that."

He turned to face her, her eyes still down cast at the screen in front of her. "You really have a lot of faith in me, don't you?" he asked her quietly.

She was surprised at his question. She met his gaze, their faces only inches apart. "Yes, Zechs, I do," she said softly.

"Ahem," there was a voice from the viewing screen. "Sorry to interrupt."

Noin quickly faced forward to see Sally back on the screen where she had been a few minutes ago. Zechs, on the other hand, kept his relative position and simply turned his head to see the woman on screen.

"Sally…" he said slowly in an annoyed greeting. Two times in one day; what were the odds? Actually, if he really thought about it, the odds were pretty steeply mounted against him and Noin…

"Hey, Zechs! What have you been up to?" Sally said cheerily. She was currently avoiding the look on Noin's face which belayed embarrassment and annoyance with a tinge of anger. Of course, the look on Zechs' face wasn't much better, but that was the way his face always looked unless you were Noin or Relena.

"Nothing of great importance…" he drawled. His newest job assignment (not the one he was currently on) was rather dull. The domes around Red City no longer needed much physical labor, thus he had been assigned to paperwork duty. Unless he moved to a dome on the outer edges, he would be stuck with paperwork. He was currently in the market.

"So what can you tell me, Sal?" Noin interjected quickly. They were fast approaching satellite 5, and she needed to get geared up.

She shook her head, "I'm not telling you anything. I'll send it to you in an encrypted message. It's just two words; research them for yourself. That's the best I can do. – I've got to go, though. Wufei needed help with some new information Preventer Hawk just sent our way. It's a mountain of data… When you get here, you've got a lot to catch up on. See ya' soon," she said with a wave.

"Thanks, Sally," Noin replied, and her image winked off screen.

"What was it she was supposed to tell you?" Zechs asked.

"More information on why we're being called back. You know I don't like just sitting in the dark."

"I thought you loved space…" he remarked sarcastically.

"Ha ha," she said dryly.

_Incoming transmission. – Sender encrypted. – Message encrypted. _

Noin typed in some commands and opened the document. Like Sally said, there were only two words:

_Utopian Society – End Transmission. _

----------------------

ESUN Temporary HQ

2:58pm

"Moving on with our business," the Chairman announced, "We have some bills to vote on today. Let's start with Bill ES3411. I think we already know the outcome of this bill, but is there anyone who wishes to speak on it before we vote?"

No one made a sound or move to debate the bill. Many long hours of debate had already been spent outside the chamber, but the news today was distressing. The bill, ES3411, was a resolution stating that the Preventers, being the only body to possess them, had to disarm and destroy all the mobile suits they possessed. Such a resolution had been passed concerning suits constructed of Gundanium overwhelmingly. However, with today's news, the tides had turned for this bill…

"No one? Very well, then. Let's vote."

When the tally was counted, the votes stood at Yea-102 and Nay-194. The bill failed, and thus, the Preventers were allowed to keep their MS emergency stockpile.

"Moving right along, Bill ES3296. Any debate or comments?"

Bill ES3296 was a resolution to give the Preventers another 3.2 billion dollars to help cover their budget and increase their productivity through buying new technology and upgrades. The additional 3.2 billion would be added to the Preventers' annual allotment through the next six years.

With no debate or comments, the bill passed with a vote of Yea-191 and Nay-105.

"All right, let's change gears, ladies and gentlemen. Bill ES5819. I'll allow five minutes of open debate over this bill. The sponsor has three minutes to read the bill aloud again and explain it briefly."

This bill had to do with shuttle transportation between the Colonies, Earth, the Moon, and Mars. It added stricter restrictions on private crafts and required more technology before allowing them clearance to travel into space. It also made way for a government funded transportation system between Earth and Mars: all expense-paid trips for people and families that wanted to travel to Mars and work on the Terraforming Project. The debate stirred up passions about the government's role in private matters such as personal shuttles and whether the government had a place in "bribing" people to work on Mars.

The debate was raging heatedly when Relena noticed the security guards getting antsy. Many of them were holding their earpieces closer to their ears. Then, they all grabbed the weapons that were ether hanging on their backs (M-16s) or resting in their holsters, and aimed them towards the top booths where no one was sitting as they scanned the area for a suspect or multiple suspects.

The debate was silenced as the representatives sat apprehensively in their seats waiting for a signal of what to do.

"The chamber is quiet," reported one of the security detail in his radio. "I repeat, we have no visual on the suspects."

"They've already lined up the shots!" a voice yelled – it was Heero. "Get down!" he commanded the row of senior ESUN officials as he ran for Relena.

He drew his pistol and three shots rang out from above as Relena and the rest of the ESUN officials hit the ground. Heero grabbed the Vice Chairman who was two seats away from Relena and had not reached the floor in time. A fourth shot rang out, and Heero being there, saved the VC from a head shot. Instead, the VC had a wound to his left shoulder. He gasped in pain as the bullet tore through his body ripping muscles, splintering bones, and splattering his face and Heero with blood. He fell to the ground at Heero's feet with a cry.

There were screams as Heero took aim and fired at one of the would-be assassins. He shothim through his hand into his shoulder as the other security guards escorted the delegates out and fired at the other two.

Heero checked on Relena to make sure she was okay. She hadn't been shot, and he instructed her to stay down as a security guard's bullet ripped through another of the assassins. The third assassin wisely decided to run for it having lost his two comrades.

Heero lifted Relena from the ground and instructed two of the guards to assist the VC's bodyguards in carrying him out.

"We have to move quickly, Relena," Heero said grabbing her hand and pulling her behind him. "This is an ambush."

"What? How?"

"I'll explain later." He reached into his pocket and pulled out another com unit. "HQ, this is Preventer Zero. I have shots fired at the ESUN meeting located at the –"

A bullet caught the communicator in Heero's hand splintering it. He threw Relena and himself into a niche in the wall just as the area they'd been running in was sprayed with bullets.

"Heero, your hand!"

A few pieces of the com were imbedded into his hand; the blood was dripping on to the ground.

"I'm fine, Relena. Stay close," he instructed as he peeked past the niche that was protecting them and fired.

Relena took his bloodied hand and pulled the larger pieces out as Heero continued to shoot at their enemies. She then loosely wrapped his hand in a handkerchief; it didn't quite cover everything, but it would have to do.

Heero ducked back in and grabbed Relena's hand with his newly bandaged one. "Thanks. Let's go. – And I suggest closing your eyes."

He one-handedly loaded another clip into his pistol as they walked over the bodies of the men Heero had either killed or severely injured, their feet sliding on the blood that covered the tiled floor.

"This is Heero Yuy," he said into the security guard comlink. "Where are the delegates housed?"

"We got them all out, sir! We're pinned down, but the delegates are all safe."

"Negative. I still have one with me."

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter. We need to get out of here; how do I do that?"

"Take the south exit. It's all quiet on the south."

"Acknowledged."

"What's going on?" Relena asked.

"The south exit is clear; that's where we're headed. We need to hurry. That line probably wasn't secure."

They ran through a maze of halls, occasionally bumping into some terrorists of whom Heero quickly disposed.

When they reached the south exit, they found another twenty security guards. They stood outside on guard scanning the surrounding area for threats.

"You have the Vice Foreign Minister? Oh, that's great!" one of the security officers sighed in relief. He picked up his com, "We've got her at the south exit! The Vice Foreign Minister is safe!"

"You idiot!" Heero grabbed the com unit from the security officer. "That line is probably –"

A shot rang out and the man's head in front of Heero and Relena imploded as a bullet tore through his skull. Blood spattered their faces and clothes as Relena screamed, and the man fell to his knees, dead.

Heero shoved Relena down into the bushes behind a cement pillar as the security guards fanned out. Heero stood behind the pillar over Relena as he watched the bushes rustle; there was a lot more than just one of them.

"I need to get out of here!" Heero hissed indicating Relena.

"Sir!" another of the security guards said as the pillars were pelted with bullets, "You can't get out! The whole place is surrounded!"

----------------------

**JN**: So, there it is! Sorry it took so long... And should I appologize for leaving you on a slight cliffhanger? Mmm... I don't think so. ;)

**Political Overtones:** So, if you haven't figured it out, policics and the media are going to play a role in this story. One of the many things I loved about GW was the sincere attempt at realistically portraying the society of the AC world. Yes, I put the whole US vs French thing in there. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Freedom Fries rock, but there was actually a reason that I had it like that. I decided that since this is technically the "future," that I'd rely on the present to see how the countries would react to each other. Walker was actually created after the liberal image of John Bolton. I thought to make him say stuff that the left would find outrageous (like the lily-white coward comment) and the conservatives would find funny as well as politically accurate. Ironically, his name is the middle name of President Bush - unintentional, I swear! ;)

As far as isolationism, I'm glad I was able to fit that in there. I thought I was going to be stuck with socialism due to the simple fact that by default, isolationism didn't quite work with my plotline. However, I found a solution! I figure it's only fair that I, being a conservative, have an extreme conservative ideal be the enemy in this story.And for those who don't like the US, if you'll notice, Utopian Society kind of works out for you with its initials. That was also accidental and this particularcomment is a joke. ;)

**Next time in Tactical Espianoge...** How will Heero and Relena escape? With the injuries of so many assassins, one of them is sure to be caught; what will we learn from the enemy? Zechs and Noin arrive on Earth, but not before a small detour. We get a first glance at how our villians opperate, and Une will finally brief Zechs and Noin, as well as you, on what exactly is going on here. Plus, we get a few little side shots. Stay tuned! It's all in the next installment of Tactical Espianoge!


End file.
